Picking up the Pieces
by Evil-Ekat
Summary: There was always more behind Pacifica's hatred for Dipper Pines than Pioneer Day. So she finally succeeds in shredding his heart. But at what cost? After a walk in the forest she discovers the heavy-handed weight of her actions, and realizes she has to do everything to gain back the trust of the man she still loves before he goes too far. While keeping herself from falling as well.
1. Shattering

**Well, well, well, look who showed up! It's your resident most evil of ekats here with her latest story. What's this? It's not a MaBill? Yes you hear correctly people! Not even a side pairing! That dream-dorito is staying in the dreamscape! My first ever stab at DipCifica! I hope you guys like it as much as I do! Constructive criticism on their character is very, very welcomed. I don't want to bend them out of place. Special thanks to myself for making the cover art. You, you're the best me to ever exist! If that makes any sense. Now without farther ado Picking up the Pieces!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

It was a beautiful August evening. The sky was a deep, dusky blue with vibrant streaks of orange and red fading past the mountains. To the East the coming night inched forwards, the first bright pin pricks of light growing. The night-time sounds of the forest croaked, cawed, and howled through the night.

One couple strode through the forest, approaching the Mystery Shack after their date de régulaire; Every Wednesday they went out somewhere, while Fridays and Saturdays were often spent lazing around together. Between work and life during the rest of the week, they saw each other every now and then in the untidy schedule of adulthood.

Finally, Dipper and Pacifica reached the Shack porch. Giggling in a rather immature fashion, the blonde snorted;

"I still can't believe that Soos tried to flambé your ice cream!"

Dipper chuckled as well, and added;

"He was a little surprised to say the least. I told him he couldn't flambé ice cream!"

Shaking her head so the tips of her hair tickled his nose, Pacifica smiled at the memory.

"Well, he's getting there. I guess."

The young man shrugged, unsure of how to respond to that, thus ending the train of thoughts. Instead he asked;

"Well it's my turn to pick where we go tomorrow. Elegant dress code required." He paused, smirking slightly. "Well more elegant that you already are."

"Can I wear the Party Queen crown while I'm at it?" She asked with big puppy eyes.

"No. I'll need something to replace my hat." The man joked, placing a hand on his faithful pine tree ball cap.

The couple stood there in the dark, only the single bare bulb of light by the porch door illuminating the night. With a deep breath, Dipper took Pacifica's hands in his and stared in to the blonde's baby-blue eyes. Pacifica was familiar with this look, a polite almost owlish spark that the man would hold, almost asking for permission to kiss her. Of course he never had to ask, but the small expression held the repressed timid and awkward teenage boy he had graduated from.

It left her with a tiny fluttering and nostalgic sensation, nearly bordering on guilt. But she pushed it away, now certain this was the perfect time to break the news and grind Dipper Pines' heart in to nothing more than a few broken pieces. The young woman returned his a smile and tilted her head slightly to let her lips meet his.

The man fiercely, almost hungrily pressed his own against hers, betraying the shy air to him. The Northwest Heiress didn't bother to take notes or try to do anything to deepen it. Instead, she pulled her vintage silver coin purse out of her jeans pocket, and then carefully wrapped her arms around his waist. She slipped the purse into the man's back pocket, knowing he wouldn't notice until later.

Dipper pulled away first, a devilish smirk on his lips, yet still retaining that same innocent look. It baffled Pacifica how her boyfriend could play such opposites at the same time. It was something she had never seen him do any other time, this was the only exception as far as she knew. She returned the secret smile before loosening herself from his arms.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Dipper asked.

"I'm sure." She firmly replied. "I know you always like to Dips, but I'll be fine just this once."

"Alright." He sighed. "Night Cify. I love you."

"Night." She smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Dipper sighed to himself and rolled his shoulders. He watched Pacifica's glinting blonde hair and designer heels stride off in to the night. Absently he noticed that she had not replied that she loved him as well. Perhaps she was getting a bit tired of their usual routine, and wanted to break free from it a little. That could easily be fixed tomorrow. He had wanted a bit of a change himself and had decided that they would go out of the area to a-

He stopped wondering about it as he realized that there was an unfamiliar weight in his back pocket. Reaching for it the young man found that Pacifica's wallet in his hand. Strange, he must have unconsciously picked it up after they left the diner for her. He should go return it to her before she realized it was missing. Silver purse in hand, the man jogged down the road to town, hoping to catch up to his spouse.

* * *

Pacifica smirked to herself as she strode down the crumbling sidewalks to the most blatantly obvious stop in town. Standing in a yellow-orange patch of light under a street lamp, the blonde waited for the other half of her plan to show up. She waited impatiently for a few minutes, and eventually began tapping her foot. Where was he?

Suddenly, a man cleared his throat behind her. The woman gave a small jump as a man wearing black skinny jeans in good need of a wash, and a mismatched black hoodie covered in lint appeared from her shadows. She didn't become any less tense as she instantly recognized Robbie standing there in the shadows with his arms crossed.

"Where were you?" She crossly snapped.

Clearly the older man did not understand the importance of this whole plan, and she quite frankly wasn't surprised by that. The man wasn't exactly of first-rate intelligence, and simply flunked out at grade eleven rather than finishing.

It wasn't just about that stupid petty rival she had with his sister a few years back, they had easily gotten over that. She had been so tired of that stupid nerd upstaging her in everything they did. It all started when the Pines stared school here after they lost their parents in some sort of tragedy. All of her grades, her entire academic life had been torn apart by that know-it-all and his desire to keep discovering every last question and mystery.

Of course her parents had expected her to excel in everything she did, especially when it came to her academics. But then the little twat had come along and upstaged her, leaving her in second place! If only the jerk could know what he put her through, all of grade eight and high school!

All of her privileges and any enjoyments taken away and being devoted to work by her parents, completely usurping the social net she had so carefully crafted over the years due to being unable to flaunt anything. And where had that left her? Friendless and alone at the bottom of the ladder, a weirdo who was too focused on doing better than him so she could earn back what she had worked so hard towards.

School had been the one place she could be free of the rules and commandments always pressing their weight down on her. It was where she had created an order all on it's own, a superior one. Her parents were always so strict in everything they did, the relief from them was simply amazing. And so she had lost almost all freedom when she couldn't beat Dipper Pines in anything.

But the her answer had come to her. From the time she could talk it had been drilled in to her that if there was one thing she would be good at, it would be manipulating other people. It was a life skill according to her parents. It was what got them what ever they wanted, made the world go around.

So she plotted, and debated, and thought for days. She nearly forgot to practice for her music exams she was so preoccupied with discovering how to get back at the imbecile who dare get in her way. Then it came to her. Leave Dipper Pines feeling every ounce of pain he had inflicted on her over the years in one fatal sweep. Crush his heart, shred his feelings, leave him humiliated.

So when the last semester of grade eleven came around, she broke one of her parent's golden rules. She asked for help, in the form of studying with him. He agreed, and so they worked together in the classes they shared. Then who ever had a higher mark began to differ. Sometimes it was her, sometimes it was him. It was still never good enough for her parents, but she suddenly found that it was good enough for herself. They grew, they talked, and really got to know each other past all of the assumptions.

Pacifica would even admit to often times ditching her etiquette completely as soon as she stepped out of the confines of the Northwest Mansion. Dipper stopped being so uptight and nervous around her, and became less guarded with his feelings.

It took a while, but near the middle of grade twelve he finally asked her out. They stayed together as they went separate ways post-secondary-wise, and both ended back up in Gravity Falls, working in the next larger, less weird town over. A few years later and she forgot her goal at times, but it was still there bordering on the edge of her mind. And now she decided it was finally time to sever ties with him before she ever got too carried away again.

"Relax." He intoned. "I've been here a lot longer than you."

She huffed, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall in front of a store.

"You're sure he'll come?" The greasy-haired man wondered.

"Certain." The blonde brusquely informed him. "Lover boy should show up soon."

They leaned against the wall in silence, waiting, and listening for Dipper to come looking for her. Though the usual sounds of the forest and the night, they soon hear footsteps echoing through the streets. It was him.

A sly grin slid across Robbie's face. He turned to Pacifica, indicating what they should do now. The blonde felt a shiver of revulsion and dread at the very idea, but steeled herself with the reminder that any Northwest worth their salt did what they needed to get what they wanted.

The man pressed his hips against hers, effectively pinning her against the wall, he brought his own face closer to hers but did not kiss her. Rather, he let a curtain of his long, oily hair obscure any view someone might have of them.

Their breath mingled together, and the woman winced at the overpowering smell of cologne he wore to try and cover the scent of cigarettes and sweat. She gave a shiver of disgust having this grimy man at such close proximity. But she could not dwell on it any longer as she heard her boyfriend's footsteps come closer. She brought her lips to his cold, chapped ones in a deeper kiss.

Once more the woman did not bother to try and take notes or recall his poor excuse for technique. All she was aware of was the horrible flavour he cared that would leave her gagging for days. It was like kissing a skunk that had chewed a whole package of mint-flavoured gum in order to cover that up as well.

Pacifica though she would be sick, but she heard Dipper's gasp of shock and the clinking sound as he dropped her purse. She pulled away from the horrid man. Right then and there she would have loved more than anything to retch and shove the man away from her. Instead she put on a dangerous smile and licked her lips.

"C-Cify, what's going on?" The man stuttered.

Dipper was unsure as of what to make of the situation. At first he thought that Robbie had been forcing himself on her, it was clear from her body language that she wanted to fight it. But she she turned to him with that expression, so horribly smug. What had been going on?

The Northwest Heiress' smile turned icy at the question

"That's Pacifica to you." She coldly stated. "And isn't it obvious? I've just cheated on you."

"B-but why?" The poor man stuttered.

She felt a small pang of guilt at what she was about to say, but managed to squash the good conscience. The blonde tossed her hair and threw back her head with a cold laugh.

"Why? Nothing between us has been real Dipper. Nothing. You seriously thought someone like me could ever fall for a looser like you? You're not even over that red-headed girl completely as well! Did you honestly ever feel any chemistry between the two of us? Everything was faked and staged all along."

"E-e-everything?"

"Everything." She lied.

The man was in too deep a shock to do anything more than stand there gaping at the couple. Right on cue her chauffeur pulled up to the building. Pacifica dragged Robbie in to the car and then rolled down the window to mockingly wave at Dipper.

"Tata Dipper! Wonderful show!" She teased.

Dipper watched as the car drove off, leaving him in a pile of dust. Pacifica's words continued to echo in his mind as he tried to understand what had just happened to him, and how it was possible. Unable to take the deluge of thoughts any longer, the man broke out in to a sob and collapsed on the ground.

* * *

After kicking Robbie out of the car at the next block, Pacifica continued to stare out the window for the drive back to the mansion. She took a moment to smooth out any folds in her shirt and adjust her hair slightly. Then she took out what would be the first of many packages of extra strength cinnamon mints and began to chew.

"Well that band-aid has been torn clean off." She mumbled to herself. "Now what?"

The woman ignored the slight stinging sensation in her eyes and how tight her throat had gotten. It was probably just the candy, she wasn't used so something so strong. Those were most certainly not tears of any form of guilt of hurt running down her face. No, it was satisfying to see that confused expression her boyfriend held bloom in to distraught, not sickening to her stomach. It was probably just from kissing Robbie that she felt so nauseous.

Right now the only thing that seemed to appeal to her was a nice hot bath to get rid of that grimy feeling Robbie had given her, and then going straight to bed. She would be able to forget about everything over a good night's rest. She was sure of it.

The driver pulled through the enormous gates of the Northwest Mansion. She was met with the familiar sight of her childhood and ancestral home. Large yet still elegant. Perfectly showing off the families' power and wealth over everyone in the town. The chauffeur rounded the bend in the driveway, giving any visitor a clear and intimidating view of a bronze fountain statue of Nathaniel Northwest.

They drove past the overly extravagant front entrance with it's huge polished stone staircase, and needlessly large front door and pillars made of the same slate grey stone, hidden behind green climbing ivy. This entrance was only to impress and scare any visitors that came to the mansion, everyone else simply went in a significantly less extravagant side door.

She did so, ducking under the stone archway of the door and unlocking it herself. Now inside the small hallway leading to the rest of the mansion, Pacifica chose to take the smaller and more rickety wooden staircase that the maids used up to her room. The steps were winding and precarious, and there was no proper electric lighting in the narrow space. Only a single florescent bulb near the top floor shed light on the steps. It was dusty in there as well, and there was a sort of mildewy smell mixed with that of smoke.

Still she took her time ascending the stairs, each step sounding more squeaky than the last. The blonde eventually reached the wing where her own room was, and gave a tiny sigh of relief to finally be home. To woman twisted the door to her room open, pleased to find that everything in her room was still in place.

The pink and blue pillows were perfectly fluffed, the matching goose down duvet had been smoothed out, the glass French doors leading out to her balcony were still tightly shut. To her immediately left there were two bookshelves, filled with her favourite novels, the rest being kept in the library. A short distance off to her right was a brick fireplace, one of many spread out throughout the entire mansion. A couch and matching love seat along with a coffee table enclosed the little area.

Adjacent to her large canopied bed, where the door to the balcony was, floor to ceiling windows stretched between the door, white silk curtains hiding the view of the back gardens, tennis court, greenhouse, pool, and river behind the property.

Then came the fairly bare wall where here two bookshelves where. Here there were two doors, one leading to her gigantic walk-in closet, the other leading to her own bathroom. It was a nice room, and nothing overly elegant. The blond got tired of having to live in a room where everything was an antique and could not be lived in, like her original room. So she bought her own furniture and moved in to one of the guest rooms. But that didn't stop her parents from insisting on what colour code her room had to be.

If it were up to her, all the rose-pink, coral blue, and white would go, and she'd instead have something bright and cheerful rather than the dull pastels. Green perhaps? Or maybe purple? Well it didn't really matter either way because it would never happen. She may have been a legal adult, but her parents refused to let her move out and find a place of her own.

It was a threat she had heard many times as she got older and started to gain independence that kept the blonde in her place; Being disowned, her parents using their long reach and influence to prevent her from ever getting a job or help from someone. So she was stuck in Gravity Falls, keeping the position of the Northwest Heiress until her parents would pass on and she would inherit everything and so on.

Trying to take her mind off the day and what she had just done to Dipper, the woman got changed in to her pajamas and tied her hair back in a scrunchie. She flipped off the light to her room and blindly wandered over to her bed. She slipped in to the covers, turned on her side, and promptly fell asleep.

_**October 1st, 2014**_


	2. Discovery

**Whew, it's been a while, but now we can finally start this story full swing! Thanks you for patently waiting for this story to begin everyone! It's written, mapped out, and I promise will be shorter than _Reality, _even though I said that would be a short story! For real this time, I'm sure of it. Like ninety-nine percent certain that this will not be any longer than fifteen chapters. It will only be twenty at the most.**

**But before we can start, I must disclaim something, and boy do I put a lot of emphasis on this when I say that this story is not written with any attempt to romanticize suicide, self harm, and or certain mind sets people might have. That was not my intent with writing this story, and part of the reason why there was a larger gap than usual between this chapter was because I did some pretty heavy researching before I even began to write the coming chapters. Trying to maks these sort of things "special" is down right disgusting, and you have my honest words that I will never every try to make an attempt at doing so. I hope my work I devoted to researching this past month and a half show.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

Pacifica woke up the next morning with a start. It felt like she had just been dreaming, but she couldn't remember what it was about. Judging from how she felt sweaty and was tangled in the sheets, it was probably a nightmare. Shaking her head, the young woman got up and started to get ready for what was probably going to be a very long day.

Stepping in to her closet, she scanned through what to wear that day. It was supposed to be slightly cloudy, but it looked more like it was going to rain cats and dogs to her. She settled for something comfortable; Black yoga pants and a simple shirt covered by a lilac hoodie. Turning to her bathroom mirror, she quickly stepped in the shower, and then returned to combing out her long hair.

It was humid and rainy today, so rather than let her hair air dry she blow dried it and tied it up in to a messy bun. She didn't expect to see her parents at all today, so she deemed her appearance appropriate and decided to wander down to the kitchen and get her own breakfast to avoid dining with them. But as soon as she stepped out of the room, one of the maids waddled over to her and said;

"Miss Northwest your father expects to see you at breakfast today."

The blonde sighed and nodded before turned back to her room. She got changed out of her comfortable clothing and in to something more suitable and fashionable for the daughter of Preston Northwest. A blue skirt that was not too low-cut, a blouse, gold-studded earings, a matching bangle, and a few touches of blush and mascara left her presentable despite the messy state of her hair.

Then she strode down the proper stairs to where the family dinning room was. She stood outside the door to the room a moment, trying to steel herself before entering the room. Pulling her chin up and squaring her shoulders, she perfected her posture and walked in to the room.

The Northwest Family dinning room was one of three throughout the house. This was where all of their meals as a family were held, but it didn't stop the room from being any more extravagant. It was a darkly designed room full of bloody marroons and tarnished silvers, the thread bare carpet beneath the ebony table was a slowly fraying antique, the fire-place needed to be sweeped, and all across the red walls there were pictures of the Northwests who would have dined in there before them, and the stuffed and mounted heads of about every kind of animal that had ever lived in Gravity Falls.

The glazed eyes of all the beheaded animals stared down at all the occupants of the table in an almost accusing manner. Often times it was the cause of Pacifica loosing her appetite. The curtains to the large windows at the end of the room were drawn despite the light that could have been provided, only the spiky silver chandelier that looked like a group of fire pokers and knives welded together shed light on the dismal and dusty room. Pacifica took her seat at the rectangular table, and waited to be acknowledged by her father.

"Pacifica." The man greeted.

"Father." She responded in neutral greeting.

"You mother will be back from Paris this morning after her weekly shopping trip."

She nodded to show she had heard him. The two Northwests began to serve themselves their breakfast. Pacifica took a glass of apple juice and an eggs benidict, along with a few strawberries, raspberries, and slices of macintosh apples. But when she reached towards the bacon, Preston shook his head and declared;

"Ah ah, too much sodium and fat."

_"Then how come you're eating some?" _She bitterly thought.

When she decided to go for a muffin instead, the man shook his head and declared;

"Carbs Pacifica. You know that you're supposed to remain on a diet if you want to keep that boyfriend of yours interested."

At the mention of Dipper, Pacifica froze for a moment. She knew here was no way she could pretend that he and her were still dating to her parents. With a sigh, she explained;

"We broke up."

The man straightened his already straight posture and declared;

"Oh no, no, no! That can't do! You need to get married and have kids before your age begins to show, continue the Northwest family tree."

Pacifica was unsurprised by the indifferent response and lack of concern from her father. She wanted to sigh in annoyance, but instead let the man continue with his lecture.

"Now once we finish breakfast I want you to go down to that Tourist Trap of Stanford Pines' and woo the boy back."

"But-" She tried to protest in shock.

"No buts Pacifica. You have a duty to serve to the family and I expect you to fulfill it. Married before you begin to age or you can kiss your everything goodbye."

Suddenly the young woman felt something inside of her snap. She was so tired of living under the same threat all these years. There wasn't a day she went by without hearing it! She didn't know why she felt so threatened by it at times!

"I have money saved up you know." The blond suddenly snapped.

The man chuckled at the tiny threat, not knowing exactly how long and how much Pacifica had saved over the years. To be exact, from the time when she had first heard and understood the words at the age of five she had been saving her allowances and not spending all of her shopping money. With her credit card she had bought clothing returned the things for cash, and placed it in her own private bank account. Over the years she had saved up a small fortune. And that was not even the money she got from work counted.

She should have been able to leave whenever she wanted if not for the fact that her parents would ensure she would never be able to find work anywhere if she left them behind. It wasn't fair that she was left so trapped and right under their fingers! She would never truly be able to get her own way. It would take up a fair bit of courage before she could even get off of the property.

"Of course you do." He laughed. " You're exactly like your mother when it comes to spending your money Pacifica. Right away for your shopping! Now go get that boy back. Or else."

The blond wanted to protest once more, but knew it was a futile fight. With a sigh she nodded and excused herself from the table.

* * *

When Pacifica waited for her driver to come for her, she was remembered that he had just driven to pick up her mother from the airport and would not be returning for at least another three hours. One of the last things she wanted to do was ask her dad for the keys to the garage where her car and the rest of his collection were parked.

So she began her nervous walk in to town. The blond slowly walked down the hill and in to the forest. She wanted to take the longest amount of time getting to the Mystery Shack. The woman was terrified about confronting Dipper. What was she supposed to say?! What would she do? What would her father do when he found out that she and Dipper had not gotten back together? Pacifica had felt little to no satisfaction in finally breaking it off with him any more. Rather, she felt empty, and something else she couldn't identify.

They had been together for five whole years, how was she supposed to feel? Happy that she had finally hurt the man back in the way he had hurt her? That she had finally achieved her long time goal of revenge? Rather it all felt empty, wrong. There was something horrific in her actions, a sense that she should have been disgusted with herself for breaking things off so harshly.

"Oh, who am I kidding?!" She half-sobbed, half-snarled to herself.

The blonde ceased her journey,and with complete disregard for her appearance sat down on a fallen log. The woman began to sniffle and tears fell from her eyes, washing away her mascara. Of course she still hurt from what Dipper had unconsciously done, but they had always talked about everything. He knew what she had been going through, but just not the specifics of why her parents treated her that way.

She loved the man, and she still did. He was the only semblance of normality and safety in her life. The only reminder that she was not a Northwest, she was a human being. Spouse, and before that a true friend. Nothing like those crones that had followed her around for almost half of her life. A person she felt secure around, could trust with everything. Well, not everything, this whole insane situation was an example of what little secrecy she had destroyed their relationship.

Why had she gotten them in to this conundrum? Why had she let the teachings of her parents get the better of her and drive away the only person who cared? And most importantly, what was she going to do now, what would happen to her and Dipper?

Pacifica froze in her crying as she heard something. It didn't sound like some sort of bird or wildlife. Rather, it was a low wailing, a sobbing sound. She felt the tips of her hair begin to stand on end. She didn't want to run in to a bear, or worse some sort of crazy supernatural creature. She had gone on enough mystery hunts with Dipper to know how dangerous the woods could be even when you were prepared for it's wrath.

Cautiously, she stood up and brushed away the leaves and dirt from her skirt. The Northwest heiress wandered closer to her destination. She came to a grove of birches, standing a stark white and grey against the brown and green tones of the forest. Here the wailing sound seemed to become louder. All of her instincts were screaming for her to run, yet she remained stuck to the spot.

Peering through the gaps in the trees she didn't see anything at first. There was just a smaller clearing of grass between the spots. But once her eyes farther survived the area, she surmised that there was indeed something else in that clearing. The woman pulled off her high heels, remembering how unpractical they were for walking through the forest. She carelessly tossed them to the side, not caring about the shoes' fate as much as she should have.

Watching where she stepped, the woman carefully navigated her way closer to the clearing without trying to make too much noise. She did so successfully, and the blonde crouched behind some bushes as to not be spotted by whatever was making the noise. The woman curiously looked around the small patch of mossy grass and ferns, trying to spot something out of the ordinary. Her blood ran cold as she spotted what was in the clearing.

Dipper was there, sobbing to himself as he paced around the clearing. He let his tears fall freely on to the clipboard he was holding, possibly smudging whatever plans were written on there.

"I'm so stupid!" He moaned to himself, hurling the clip board towards the bushes in front of him. "I can't believe I didn't see it before! Looser! It's all been fake between us! Everything! Every. Last. Little. Thing!"

The woman felt her heart break as she heard the words, and disgust rise in herself for causing the man to think it was so. She wanted to run into the clearing and explain everything, tell him it was all a lie, but he wouldn't believe her. If anything the man would probably try to kill her for hurting him.

"Idiot! You didn't deserve her or anyone! You shouldn't have anyone to love! No one cares about you! "

The woman only felt herself become more cold as she continued to look around the clearing, her teeth were almost chattering as she surmised what her ex boyfriend was doing. Pacifica would admit to not being very knowledgeable in the field of things like pulleys and rope knots, but she could take a fair guess at what the man had assembled.

It bore a resemblance to some of the traps and snares Dipper had set up on mystery hunts before. Rope was drapped across the entire clearing, twisting through the trees, attaching itself to several triggers, pulleys, and other lengths of rope. To one side of the clearing there was a cage that was rigged to fall as soon as something took the bait. Next to it were two dangling ropes, one tied to a sandbag. The one with out the sandbag was tied in a loop of some sort. A noose, she realized with a sudden feeling of dread. He was going to stage his death, and make it loom like an accident instead of a suicide. Ingenious, yet deadly. Just like her own plans for revenge.

Pacifica prepared herself at that moment to dash in the clearing and explain every last thing to the man before he could even think about putting the finishing touches on what he had assembled. But before she could go forwards with her plan, Dipper paused his pacing through the clearing as he inspected something.

"Damn it." He muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Pacifica to hear. "Not enough rope. I need another yard."

The brunette wiped off his eyes, hoping he would look presentable. The he turned on his heels and began to walk in the direction of the Mystery Shack. Pacifica gave another gasp, and knew she had to find a way to stop him from getting that rope!

The woman began to run, making sure that she was distancing herself from Dipper so he wouldn't spot her, but was heading in the direction of the Mystery Shack all the same. The man was walking, but he was capable of outrunning her in long distance. She didn't have nearly as much endurance or stamina as him. But adrenaline was fueling her system. The Northwest heiress did not even notice the thorny branches scraping against her legs or the ground littered with dangers meeting her bare feet. She did not even realize that she was screaming and crying as she ran to the Mystery Shack. Suddenly she pulled through the clearing and found herself at the back of the property.

As soon as she stepped on to the wooden porch, she was met with a surprise. Mabel stood there on the porch, glaring at her with a venomous look that might have sent her screaming in the opposite direction if not for the circumstances. Crossing her arms, Dipper's twin stared her down.

"What do you want?" She asked, biting back the profane string of words she wanted to add at the end.

"Mabel!" Pacifica sobbed. "Dipper! Forest! Revenge and mistakes!"

"At least catch your breath before you lie to me." The brunette coldly informed her.

The blonde grabbed her arms and would not let go as she tried to stare in to her eyes without seeming like she was crazy.

"I'm telling the truth! Dipper's going to try and kill himself! In the forest, make it look like an accident! Get rid of all the rope before he comes back! Oh god I can't let him see me! And the rope, hide it from him! It's all my fault!"

Instantly Mabel's cold demeanour fell.

"What?! Where in the forest?! Come inside and help me get rid of all of his monster hunting stuff then!"

She dragged the other woman inside and came to a closet. Inside of it the shelves were crammed with things. Cameras, film and the chemicals for developing them, first aid kits, bottles of water, dehydrated packets of food, flashlights, spare batteries, bear traps, foldable cages, flint, hatchets, a lantern, a radio, walkie talkies, and two large coils of rope.

Mabel pulled them out of the closet and quickly shut the door. Pacifica numbly helped her drag them in to the small boiler room where the furnace, water tank, and fuse box for the Shack were placed. Then the brunette shut the Northwest heiress in the room and care in making sure that the room was locked. Then Mabel took the one and only key for the room off of Stan's key ring. She was taking no chances in letting Dipper get in there.

Pacifica stood there in the musty darkness and listened as Dipper walked in to the building, looking for the next length of ropes. When he could not find them, the man asked her brother. Mabel replied she had no idea where they were but offered to help Dipper on his "monster hunt." The man reluctantly accepted to let his sister join him after she continued to pressure him, and they left the Shack once more.

The woman was not sure how long she stood for in the cramped room, taking care not to knock over any of the cleaning supplies. It could have been an hour, or it could have been two. She began to wonder if Mabel had purposely locked her in there and planned to just leave her trapped there in the room.

In the meantime she tried to calm herself down, knowing how hysterical and crazy she had just felt in those past fleeting minutes. She chewed through a whole pack of cinnamon mints, unconsciously letting the sweet yet spicy candies burn her mouth as she tried to scorch the taste of Robbie out of her mouth.

The man had left the taste of cigarettes, alcohol, what she guessed were an illegal substance or two, along with the terrible mint gum he had chewed to try and mute the tastes. It all swirled together in a nauseous, bitter taste that she could not rid herself of. If the woman had her choice, she would have never even asked Robbie to help her with her plan. But at the time she had seen no other person to ask. She knew that the dark man hated Dipper, and would not think any less of her her for doing that to the man.

Also, she knew for a fact that the disgusting man had been infatuated with her for a long time. Not like the goofy teenager way like he had been with Wendy Corduroy, but more of a stalkerish, constantly asking sense. He was a man who only used his eyes, and was quite blatant with this fact. She had loathed the idea of kissing such a cockroach of a person, but it was what she had considered for the greater good. Now she just hoped that the slime bucket would leave her alone now that he had gotten what he wanted. The chance was small seeing how even when she had been with Dipper he did not give up in his attempts.

There was the sound of keys jingling, and the room was suddenly flooded with light as Mabel opened the door once again. Pacifica gave a sigh of relief and let her shoulders sag. Her legs had been falling asleep and she took a few awkward steps before regaining some semblance of her usually perfect posture. The brunette didn't speak, rather she indicated for Pacifica to be quiet and follow her.

The blonde did so, tailing behind the older twin to the gift shop. Mabel pulled aside the curtain that hide the latter to the roof. Both climbed up to the hidden spot, knowing that no one would be able to see them there. But for extra precaution in case anyone was in the attic, they navigated their way over to the Mystery Shack's sign where there were no windows.

It was only the end of the afternoon outside, but the woman felt like it should have been nighttime after being in that closet for so long. Shadows were only beginning to stretch out, and the sky just barely held and orangish tint to them behind the grey clouds. The rainy looking weather had cleared up for the most part and continued east, proving Pacifica's speculations about the precipitation for that day wrong.

The women sat down on the higher sign with the word _Mystery _on it, and let their feet dangle over the edge. The sign wobbled precariously under their weight, but still held up. It had been through worse. Now settled, Mabel turned to Pacifica expectantly.

"Now that you've calmed down I think an explanation is in order for just about everything." The brunette stated.

The other woman gave a miserable sigh and nodded.

"Dipper?" She asked.

"He's a good actor." Mabel quietly said, looking down at the ground. "He hardly seemed upset when I tagged along. But I saw the ropes and could tell what you were talking about. I made sure to "accidentally" mess it up so he couldn't go back. He was planning on doing that. He was planning on killing himself and I would have never known Pacifica! I'm his sister! How could I not notice?! What kind of twin am I?! Did he actually think he'd spare me any grief if he made it look like an accident?!"

Now it was Mabel's turn to cry. She did so for a few minutes, lamenting over everything that had just happened in the past few hours. The blonde let her do so not knowing how to comfort her. She then cleared her throat and tried to figure out how to calm down the other woman.

"What are you doing back here anyways?" The blonde wondered.

"Dipper called me to say that _you _had broken up with him. I didn't get all the details, but he sounded pretty upset. So I came up here to see how he was doing for myself. I just got in a few hours ago." She explained.

"Then you couldn't have really noticed." The woman tried to reassure. "Was he even here when you arrived?"

"N-no." She sniffled in repIy. "S-stan just told me that he had gone out on a mystery hunt."

"There, see? You would have noticed Mabel, you need to calm down and realize that." The other woman attempted to sooth.

It took a few more minutes before Mabel was able to collect herself. Pacifica patiently waited for her, trying not to break down as well.

"Now you need to explain." Mabel stated.

Pacifica took a deep breath. This was not something she just wanted to reveal to the likes of anyone let alone Mabel Pines, wearer of tacky sweaters and lover of pigs. She hadn't revealed it to Dipper, and made it the most personal thing she would ever tell. And not even to the one person she had ever felt emotionally close with to boot. The woman shifted in her spot nervously, not knowing how to put her words. Instead she stared down at the ground, wondering why Mabel had not freaked out about being so high up instead.

"Spill it." The brunette insisted.

The young woman gave a sigh, but nodded.

"Alright. But you have to promise to let me speak, and not freak out."

Mabel stared at her, wondering what she was about to say. Finally she gave a hesitant nod.

"Fine."

She took a deep inhale followed by an exhale before starting to speak.

"Well, when you and Dipper moved to Gravity Falls your brother started beating me in all my school grades. My parents always expect me to do the very best, and were upset that I couldn't get ahead of him. So I was forced to devote all of my walking hours to beating him, and nothing more than that.

"Do you remember how everyone started ignoring me after a while? And how I was always alone? That was because I couldn't keep people around with out my parents allowing me to influence them. I'm not like you who can easily attract people. I'm not charismatic or charming, I just know how to bribe people and let them stay interested.

"He unintentionally stripped me of everything I had known, and left me in an even worse position with my parents. I planned to date your brother the break up with him to get revenge, but after a while I sort of forgot. But just a few days ago my dad kept on pressing me about Dipper and how he was proud someone "stupid" and "ugly" as me could land such a smart, charming young man. I snapped at the reminder, and broke up with him two days later."

Mabel was silent, letting the full weight of the other woman's words sink in. Pacifica looked away uncomfortably, wanting to do nothing more than vanish at that particular moment. She felt so vulnerable, and she had told one of her most deeply kept feelings to someone who was an emotional stranger to her. Instead of reacting both of them sighed, and stared out on to the horizon. What were they going to do?


	3. Discussion

**I know I should have mentioned this in the last chapter, but that author's note was already very long. After my research, and writing a page and a half on both of their characters, I realized that Dipper and Pacifica will be OOC at times, especially when they're focusing on how much they are hurting. **

**The emotional turmoil they are going through is the cause of this, and if they were truly hurting, they would of course be having trouble acting like themselves. If they acted like themselves most of the time, then that would just suggest all was fine and there would be no real conflict at all. Which is defently not the case!**

**But there will be gradual returns to them acting like they normally would, especially at later times in the story. I hope I haven't lost your interest because of the OOC that will be present, because I really put a lot of work in to my research on how they should be acting after the troubles they're going through. But hey, at least Mabel gets to be in character this time round once she stops freaking out!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

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Pacifica and Mabel sat on the sign on top of the Mystery Shack. Both women remained silent after Pacifica had explained why she had gone after her revenge, and how she still cared for Dipper. It had only been a moment of weakness that allowed her to finally sever ties with him, and leave the man in the state he was now. Finally, Mabel said;

"I don't know if I want to kill you, or hug you."

"I know." Pacifica sighed.

Mabel turned to the blonde, anger radiating from her entire being. The brunette stood up despite being dangerously perched on the sign, and pointed an accusing finger at the woman.

"No! No you don't know! You have no idea what you did doing that to Dipper! You still love him, so what?! He wants to kill himself because of you!" She snarled. "He was saving up to buy you the ring Pacifica! Don't you remember how he quit working at the Mystery Shack?! He wanted to marry you!"

Shocked by Mabel's sudden out burst and the stinging truth to her words, Pacifica backed away from her. Dipper had wanted to ask her to marry him? What had she done?!

"H-he said he was s-saving up for grad school." She stuttered, trying to deny it to herself.

"He had a full scholarship!" Mabel cried, waving her arms.

At this revelation she knew there was no denying the fact. But now she had gone and ruined everything, she had destroyed her only chance at happiness and freedom by crushing him in to little tiny pieces. It could be all her fault that she destroyed someone's life, and took down his sister with him. She was a monster! An absolutely horrendous person past her looks and intelligence, that had the power to decimate someone's life with a few words.

"W-what are we g-going to do about him?"

Mabel didn't reply. Instead she glanced over the roof, and turned pale. The woman wondered if it was because she remembered that she was afraid of heights. But she was wrong. She grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her behind the sign. Pacifica slipped a few feet before catching herself between the signs. Before she could ask what that was for, the brunette hissed;

"Stay still and don't talk!"

They were silent a few tense seconds before Dipper asked;

"What are you doing on the roof Mabel?"

The young woman felt her face heat up as she struggled to tell a believable lie. Staring down at her feet and kicking a heel, she fibbed;

"Good question! I'm just... BIRD WATCHING! We- I'm just up here watching the birds!"

Hurt flashed in Dipper's eyes as he heard the clear lie from his sister. But he quickly hid any feelings of betrayal that Mabel felt she could not tell him the truth. After all, who knew what else had been hidden from him? The brunette dismissed it with a shrug and went back inside the Shack.

Mabel gave a deep exhale and slouched against the sign. Pacifica got up from her crouch, rubbing her legs after staying in the uncomfortable position. For the first time the blonde realized how messy she was, and that she wasn't wearing shoes. Her feet were cut and scraped in places, and her makeup had streaked down her face in messy trails. She began to blush in disgrace, thinking to what her parents would say when she went back home. Then, as if Mabel had read her mind, she brunette offered;

"Would you like something to change in to?"

What was worse? The fashion critique from her mother and the inevitable week-long shopping trip she would take her on, or the scolding both of them would give her for going anywhere in that state? Pacifica decided she would much rather only be reprimanded once, even if it could result in an inevitable trip with her mother to buy clothes she didn't need.

"Yes." She decided.

With that reply, Mabel lead her around the roof, and to a small ledge and triangular window. Pulling off one of the bobby pins holding her headband in place, the young woman jiggled the window latch until it opened. Then she carefully lowered herself on to the sill and slipped inside. Pacifica followed her lead, albeit more clumsily than the female Pines twin.

Now they stood in Mabel's attic bedroom, which was remarkably unchanged from the time she had left Gravity Falls. Stan had not bothered to turn it back in to a storage room. Rather, all of her posters were still taped to the walls and slanted ceilings, various issues of magazines were stored in pink cartons, and a few choice stuffed animals remained on the bed. Mabel had moved most of her things she had salvaged from her Piedmont home with her parents in to her own apartment, so it was a fairly barren room.

She hauled a gigantic suitcase out from under her bed and placed it on top of it. She flipped it open and began to sort through clothes. Pacifica eyed her hesitantly, and again Mabel seemed to read her mind.

"Please, give me a little more credit than that! Contrary to popular belief, I'm not all sweaters and skirts any more. "

The brunette resumed sorting through her clothes until she found something suitable for her to wear.

"There!" Mabel proudly announced. "You can never go wrong with jeans and a blouse! I have some boots you can borrow to cover up all the scratches on your feet as well."

She directed Pacifica towards the bathroom and waited of her to get changed. She emerged looking much better. She had washed off all of the makeup, and her face was nowhere near as puffy as before. She was also lucky that she and Mabel were the same size for the most part. The female Pines twin had bigger feet than her, and so her own feet had a lot of wriggle room in the black leathers boots she had been lent. It was actually a nice contrast to the heels she normally had to wear.

The blonde had removed any traces of the forest from her hair, and at least seemed to have calmed down. Pacifica supposed she could get away with the look as long as her parents didn't get too long of a glance at what she was wearing.

"We can go to my place to talk without anyone hearing." Pacifica offered in thanks.

"Are you sure?" Mabel wondered, her voice sincerely laced with concern.

The Northwest heiress felt herself bristle at Mabel's tone. She didn't need the girl's pity! Especially not after what she had told her about what her own home life and parents were like. Northwests were not supposed to show or accept any worry from others, it made you weak.

"Yes." She firmly assured. "But should we leave Dipper here all alone?"

"Already taken care of." The other woman said with a grim smile. "Stan's not letting him out of his sight. And neither is Soos."

They climbed out of the window once more, and Mabel made sure to shut the latch once more so if there was any wind it would not be blown open and create suspicion. Pacifica briefly wondered how and why Mabel became so adept at sneaking away without detection, and if she could pick up a thing or two from her so she could avoid her parents. But then she reminded herself that she didn't care.

Associating with someone who should have been considered beneath her, borrowing nearly unfashionable clothes, and not reconciling with Dipper. With three strikes against her, Pacifica was nervous for her inevitable confrontation with her parents. On the walk there, she began to instruct Mabel on what to say and do in front of her parents so quickly the other woman could barely keep up with her crash course.

"And if they bring up the mini golf contest we had when we were twelve, you lost by a landslide." She reminded all through the trek up the hill where her house resided.

"Pacifica, there is no way they are going to bring that up." Mabel tried to comfort.

"Don't be so sure about that." She warned her as they reached the front door. "And remember not to gape at everything in the entrance hall. They hate it when people do that."

The blonde pressed the doorbell, letting the elaborate chime ring through all of the mansion. Not a second later the door was opened by the head butler Stanley.

"Ms. Northwest." He acknowledged with a small bow. "Ms. Pines."

Under any other circumstances Mabel would have asked how exactly a man she had never met knew her name, but decided to keep her big mouth shut instead. The man stepped aside to admit them in to the visitors' entrance hall. True to her word she managed not to gasp in amazement at the opulence of the room, but couldn't help staring before resuming her attention to where they were going.

Like the rest of the mansion, everything was an antique dating back to Nathaniel Northwest after he had been declared founder of Gravity Falls. Large and expansive, the dark cherry ceiling stretched around them, was twinned in to the double staircase, and was found in splashes in the spots where elaborate persian carpets did not cover. Off to one wall there was a tapestry proudly displaying the family tree, even depicting Pacifica in newer stitching. There were no windows in the entrance hall, rather a giant crystal chandelier in good need of dusting was the only source of light in the room. It at least did it's job well, and the room was not too shadowy.

Pacifica gave a sigh of relief as she did not see her parents anywhere. But her hope was popped as her father suddenly came to the top of the stairs.

"There you are daughter! Did you get the boy back? And who is that with you? A wedding planner I'd hope!" The man chuckled to himself.

"No father, this is Mabel Pines. Dipper's twin sister." She introduced through gritted teeth.

Preston was no longer smiling amiably, but with a colder distaste as he heard Mabel's name.

"Mabel Pines. The same one who lost horribly to you in mini golf?" He asked.

_"Wow, she was right!" _Mabel thought to herself. "The very same."

The man was back to smiling now.

"Ho ho! Very good! My daughter was trained with a world-class coach, did you seriously think you could beat her?"

"No. But I never back away from a challenge."

Pointing his pipe at the two of them (It was hard to tell who exactly as he stood at the top of the stairs.) Pacifica's father stated;

"You could stand to learn a thing or two from her Pacifica! Well I won't hold up you two any longer, have fun planning the wedding!"

"Insufferable." Pacifica muttered under her breath.

"Hey, cheer up!" Mabel tried to smile. "At least he didn't mention your clothes!"

"I guess you've got a point there." She sighed.

The Northwest heiress straightened her posture and lifted her head. With a well-practiced stomp of her foot and all the condescending attitude she could muster, the woman commanded;

"Stanley!"

The elderly butler appeared in a flash, having never exited the room.

"Yes Ms. Northwest?"

"Set up the Green Room for me and my guest." She instructed.

"Right away Ms. Northwest." He nodded, trotting off to the room.

Pacifica and Mabel slowly followed behind. She knew that by the time they reached the room by taking the long way, the silver-haired main would have substantially cleared the room and informed the kitchen staff to bring up something for them to eat as they talked.

Sure enough when they did, everything had been set up. The green room was near the back of the mansion, farthest away from any of the rooms her parents frequently used. They never came to this wing of the mansion anyways. Pacifica was instructed to use this room as the one for practicing piano and the flute, stating that they didn't want to be able to hear any of the "terrible racket" that she made. So Pacifica knew that no one would be there to listen in on them, even the servants knew better than do eaves drop while Pacifica stayed in her recluse.

True to it's name, the green room was indeed green. The walls were a deep evergreen silk panel that no one was allowed to touch for fear of it fraying. All of the hardwood floors and wainscoting were a dark burgundy stain. Despite the room being dark in colour scheme, it was by far Pacifica's favourite room in the house thanks to the bright view it provided.

To the back of the room where her grand piano rested, the entire expanse of the wall was a window, square meter panels of perfectly polished glass. These windows did not look over the extravagant garden or any of the other things her parents had set up in the back. Instead by some degree of luck, all she was able to see was the river twisting through the forest below.

There were few reminders to the life she lived or her parent in the room, it was easier to deny things they had said to her this way. It was always where she had run to when she couldn't block out the words any more. Already being in the quiet calm of the room had soothed her slightly.

Mabel on the other hand was looking around the room uncertainly, not knowing whether she should sit down on the couch with Pacifica or remain standing. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin some sort of ancient relic that had been in the family forever.

"You can sit. The piano and this couch are pretty much the only things in this room that are replaceable. Well, along with my sheet music, and most of the books, but I wouldn't recommend sitting on those."

The brunette took a hesitant seat next to her on the couch, looking around the room.

"We'll wait until Lysander, he's the head chef, finishes the food. Stanley will probably bring it up from the kitchens." She informed Mabel.

Searching for a different topic, the young woman delicately said;

"I didn't know that you played."

"I'm only allowed to when practicing for a concert or a competition." She stiffly replied.

"Oh."

Softening a little, she added;

"That doesn't stop me from playing though, you can't hear anything from this side of the place."

"I bet you could hear Dipper snoring." Mabel suggested with a far off look.

"He doesn't snore _that _loudly." The blonde instantly defended.

"How would you know?!" Mabel suspiciously asked before wincing. "Or do I not want the details?"

"He fell asleep during _Wolf Man Bare Chest Part Eighty-Five._" Pacifica elaborated, knowing what Mabel was thinking. "He nearly got us kicked out of the theater."

The two both shared a grin for an instant before it faded. The topic of Dipper reminded them why they were sitting together in the first place. But before either one could reflect on what had become of the younger by five minutes twin, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Pacifica softly called.

Stanley returned, pushing a small double-decker cart with three trays resting on it. He smoothed out a few wrinkles in the linen tablecloth that rested on the oval dining table to the side of the room. Then the silver-haired man began to lay out the trays, and placed a new flower arrangement of pink phlox in a crystal vase in the center. The head butler gave a flourish of his hand and bowed slightly.

"Shall I give your complements to the chef ahead of time Ms. Northwest and Ms. Pines?"

The Northwest Heiress allowed a tiny smile to grace her features, knowing fully that the man could tell how uncomfortable she was with ordering him or anyone around. Stanley was a perceptive man, and after serving her parents for all of his adult life in Gravity Falls he could tell who was adept at bossing around the servants. But they both knew she always had to treat him like the dirt underneath her high-heeled feet.

"Yes please." She tersely said.

Stanley's eyes twinkled slightly as he heard the polite words. How nice it was to hear a simple "please" or "thank you" every now and then! He certainly never heard her parents say something along those lines!

"Lysander will be pleased." He bid in farewell, exiting the room and walking at a brisk pace down to the kitchens.

Mabel curiously watched the interaction. She had a feeling that there was something she didn't quite understand between Pacifica and the man. The woman had noticeably become less uptight around him, even if she had to order him around.

Pacifica rose and went to inspect the food. Her eyes lit up and she suddenly cried in joy;

"Yes! Sandwiches! And I can eat as much as I want!"

Mabel went over to see what had been laid out as well. One tray held assorted sandwiches in egg salad, ham and cheese, cucumber, and to Pacifica's great delight BLTs. The blonde had picked up one of the sandwiches and was simply pulling tha bacon out of it and leaving the bread, lettuce, and tomato.

Mabel shook her head at this, and tried not to think about where bacon came from and Waddles at the same time. Instead she looked over the other trays. One held two red porcelain bowls of some sort of soup she was unfamiliar with, and the other was a tray of deserts. Little open-faced fruit tarts in a rainbow of flavours were organized along side brownies.

The brunette took two of the perfectly triangular egg salad sandwiches and decided to try the soup. She found it a bit sweet with a tiny spicy kick to it. Little spheres of pasta, carrots, and some sort of squash bulked up the broth, which had what she guessed to be a pinch of ginger added to it for the spice.

Meanwhile the blonde had moved on to devouring most of the brownies without a single care in the world. It had been so long since she had been able to indulge in something like this.

_"Wow." _ Mabel thought as she watched her scarf down her food with relish. _"Either she has some killer cramps, or her parents never let her eat what she wants."_

The twin felt some guilt rise in her at the latter suggestion. Maybe she was always hungry, so when she got the chance to eat, she took it. Now that they had both finished eating for the most part, she decided that it was time to bring back the original topic.

"We need to get back on track." The brunette gently indicated.

Wiping the corner of her lips off on a napkin, the other woman nodded in agreement. Yet that didn't stop her from wincing and starting to fidget in her spot.

"I need to confront him." She suggested, hating the idea as soon as she said it.

"Yes you do." Mabel sternly agreed. "But not quite yet. I need Stan and Soos to sit down with him so we can all talk. I don't think Dipper is up to trusting anyone. He's already paranoid as well."

"He won't be." She agreed. She had enough experience with not being able to trust anyone fully.

"He'll need to be put on s-suicide watch." Mabel added, stuttering over the word.

"It's all my fault..." The other woman trailed off, staring in to the distance as she thought.

"After we talk with him in an intervention you'll go explain what and why you did that as well."

"D-do you think h-he'll belive me? What if he thinks I just want to get back together because of my parents?"

"There's no telling with him." She bluntly deadpanned.

"Should I explain to him what I told you?" The blonde inquired, not liking the idea any more than before.

"Look, I get that you don't want to, and are uncomfortable with this, but if you ever want Dipper back you're going to have to explain that to him."

"It's settled then!" Pacifica said all too quickly. "You'll talk to him tonight, and I'll be over-"

"Tomorrow." Mabel firmly stated as she hesitated. "And we'll take him back to your house so he can meet your parents. He'll be able to better realize the truth."

"Meet with my p-parents?" She asked with a growing dread.

"Yes." Mabel stated. "Umm, but first, how do I get out of here?"

"I'll show you out."

The blonde stood and stretched before leading Mabel put of the room and down the hallways. Keeping her fingers crossed, Pacifica hoped that she would not run in to her mother or her father. Luck of course never smiled down on her these days. Right as they reached the entrance hall they ran in to Patricia Northwest, bossing a pitiful Stanley and the chauffeur around as they stumbled with her shopping bags and luggage.

"Be careful Stanley! That bag has my one of a kind stilettos in there! The ones with the real stiletto knifes, don't stab yourself!" The shrill woman hissed. "Watch it Albert or Allen, whoever you are! Those suitcases cost more than you're paid in a year!"

"My name is Alex!" The man muttered to himself, purposely dropping the heavy bags.

Before the woman could begin on a tirade at the man's spiteful actions, she noticed her daughter and some hideously dressed girl swearing a sweater standing in the entrance hall.

"There you are daughter! Where are you off to? And change your clothes, they're hideous!"

Both Mabel and Pacifica reddened, not knowing who she was addressing on the issue of wardrobe choices.

"Mother, this is Mabel Pines, Dipper's sister. She's here to-"

"Help plan the wedding!" Mabel chirped right on cue.

The Northwest Heiress felt the colour drain from her face as she heard Mabel ad lib. Sure she had let her father jump to her own conclusions as to why Mabel was there, but this was completely different. She had never out-right lied to her parents like this before. If they ever caught her in one the repercussions had never been pretty. Not only was this a lie, it was a huge one! The woman was stricken down with the mental image of a tombstone with her name on it.

"Well it's about time he proposed! But with your, well everything, it doesn't surprise me he was hesitant! Show me the ring _cara_."

The term of endearment was Italian, not French like her mother thought, but Pacifica did not dare to even entertain the thought of correcting her.

"I don't have one yet. We're going out shopping so we can find one that suits the dress the best." The blonde said, surprised at how easily the lies had slid off her tongue.

"Genius. At least the boy has a head on his shoulders, you could stand to take a lesson from him Pacifica." Her mother suggested. "Oh well, at least you'll have the rest of your married life to at least pick something up! Now where is the groom to- Watch it Alejandro!"

"It's Alex. " The driver sighed to himself, purposely dropping her suitcases once more. "And your suit-cases are water, fire, and bullet-proof. Nothing is going to happen to them if I drop these stupid rocks."

Pacifica rolled hereyes as she saw that her mother was preparing to launch in to another rant about all of her clothing. Wanting to spare the men their horrible fate at the hands of the woman, Pacifica inwardly winced before saying;

"Stanley, Andy, I need you two to alert the rest of the staff that my f-fiancé will be over tomorrow to meet my p-parents."

"It's Alex." The poor man huffed, dropping all of the bags yet again.

Both he and Stanley were quick to escape the room. While Patricia Northwest called for more maids to move all of her things back to her closet, the blonde pushed Mabel out the door. Standing on the steps, Mabel reminded the other woman;

"Remember, come over around twelve o'clock tomorrow."

Pacifica would have loved nothing more than to hide under a rock and forget the fact that she had to talk to Dipper tomorrow. But she also knew that there was no way she could do that. For her own good, along with Dipper's as well.

"Right." She gulped nervously. "T-twelve o'clock."


	4. Baby Steps

**Please don't tell me the OOC warning of the last chapter has driven ya'll off. Nothing will ever be painfully OOC like some of my MaBill stories (Glares at Shattered Star.) It's not like I have to bend the characters out of place to make them a couple. The warning was just there because there will be moments.**

**But tiny author's rant out of the way, I would like to give a big thanks to those who voted Reality as the best fanfiction of the year and me as best author for Jameer14's awards! I feel all wonderful and warm and fuzzy inside for winning that! And I'm really flattered that some of you guys really think that!**

**Enough gushing from me! On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

Later that same day, Dipper walked in to the Mystery Shack, his arms full of grocery bags. With a deep sigh he dropped them all on the counter top in the dilapidated kitchen. He was lucky enough that doing so did not dislodge any of the counter like it often did. Stan just insisted on gluing the wooden board back in place. With paint.

He began to unload everything in to their respective places without pause. But as he came to the reusable shopping bag containing a few items for the bathroom, he froze. Nested between a bottle of mouthwash and two packets of toothpaste was a package containing a few razor blades. Starting down at them he hesitated for a moment. Those were for Grunkle Stan, not him.

He turned away from the bag and pinched his forearm, trying to snap himself out of his thoughts. The small jab of pain that followed worked, and he gave a sigh of relief as he felt the temporary release from his problems. The man went back to sorting out everything else until he was only left with that bag.

The brown-haired man stared down at it's contents, not knowing what he should do. Stan could always buy more razor blades, even if it meant spending money. He could always pretend he had forgotten to buy them, that would be a believable lie. That he couldn't even do something simple as remember what he needed to he couldn't do anything right. With a trembling hand, he reached out to pick up the tightly wrapped package of sharp metal blades.

"Oink!" Waddles interrupted.

Dipper snapped out of his trance-like state, and stared down at the pig.

"What?" He asked. "I can't give you any food yet, it's not time for you to be eating."

The man went to pick up the box again, but the little pig gave another oink and nudged his leg, Dipper rolled his eyes at the pig's antics.

"There's no food for you here." The insisted.

"Umm, kid?" Stan half-asked, shuffling in to the room.

Dipper froze, wondering if the man was going to make fun of talking to Waddles like the pig could actually understand what they were saying. When he didn't say anything, the twin became a little less tense.

"Yea?"

"Can you come in to the living room for a minute?"

He nodded and followed the man in to the room. To his surprise, Mabel and Soos sat at the card table to the side of the room. Stan took a seat as well, and stared at them. Cautiously, the man followed his lead, wondering what was going on.

"Dipper, we need to talk." Mabel softly began.

The man felt his heart skip a beat as he heard the words. He knew where this was going. How had they found out? He couldn't even keep a secret without someone finding out! How pathetic was that?! He tried to stand, but Soos beat him to it. The man-child rested a large hand on either one of his shoulders and used his bulk to keep him in that spot.

"Sorry dude, but this is for your own good."

"What is it?" Dipper asked, still struggling in his seat.

"This is it." Stan said, tossing the clip board with his "monster trap" plans on to the table.

"My mystery-hunting?" Dipper inquired.

"Don't play dumb in front of the man who's been lying his entire life Dipper." He sadly replied, picking the plans back up and flipping through them. "You have the calculations for how you would kill yourself circled in red ink. You made sure that the noose would pull you high enough so you would be out of reach of any scavengers."

Struggling under Soos' hands, the man cried;

"No! You don't get it!"

"Yes we do Dipper." Mabel tried to assure. "And that's why we're trying to talk you out of it."

"How could any of you possibly understand?!"

Stan fixed him with a look impossible to read from behind his boxy glasses. The elderly man took a deep breath. He never had a way with words, let alone was good at expressing what he was feeling. But for Dipper, he would try his best to prevent his great-nephew from making the same mistakes he had all of his life.

"You know the story about Carla McCorkle and I. Kid, she didn't even break up with me! She just let me watch as she crawled over to that tye-dyed jerk. Not even a single word. She let me figure out what it meant myself. Do you know what I went through after that? I went from alcohol and drugs to contemplating giving up on it all. And neither option was pretty. I've shaved off a good twenty years off of my life from that, and I'm never getting those back.

"I may have not cared then, but I'm older now. I made it past that, and boy do I ever realize what a knuckle-head I was letting it pull me down. I had someone who could have helped me, but I pushed him away and let myself wallow in pain. Now he's gone and that sure leaves me with a lot to cry over. But do ya' see me doing that?"

"B-but it was fake all along! She was only interested because she wanted revenge! Nothing was real!" He sobbed.

"T-that's not true Dips. I talked to P-Pacifica today. Her parents made her."

"N-no! Y-you're lying!" The man insisted.

"Dude, you're like the most perceptive, long attention-spaned, logical person I've ever known." The man-child said with a goofy smile. "Look at the situation. How could it be possible that after five years, like everything you've done together was fake? That's not possible dude."

Dipper froze in his protests, actually taking the time to consider his question.

"I-it's not possible." He finally sighed, slouching in his seat.

"Glad ta' see you're finally listening to some sort of reason." The grey-haired man sighed, discreetly brushing away the tears behind his glasses.

"Dipper, you've got to realize that we're here for you, and we can help you through this. Starting tomorrow you're going to meet with Pacifica, and you're going to talk."

The man balked at his sister. Was she being serious?! Talk with Pacifica? After all she had just done to him?! Mabel couldn't be serious, his sister was never serious about anything! Let alone talking to someone just after all of... this! Shaking slightly, he stared at his slightly older sister and silently asked if it was true.

"I have never been more serious or more certain about anything in my life. She's coming over at twelve tomorrow even if I have to drag you both here. You two are going to go sit down in Stan's office and talk about this whole mess until twelve thirty or so help me."

"B-but Mabel I just c-can't."

The young woman got up out of her seat and strode over to her other half. Poking him in the chest with an accusing finger, she growled;

"You _can _, and you _will. _Understand?"

Staring in to his sister's eyes, the man saw they were alight with stubborn determination, caring, and was that worry, or sadness? She was afraid for him. Scared of loosing her brother to himself and his unpredictable actions in this state.

What she didn't realize was that it was not just the break-up with Pacifica that had hurt him. Her actions had made him loose next to all self-esteem and sense of worth. He didn't feel like he deserved any of this. Yet with a sigh, he nodded in resignation.

"Alright."

* * *

Pacifica's eyes shot open as she awoke with a terrified start once more. It must have been another nightmare that had rudely awoken her. For just once she wished she could remember her dreams so she would know why she felt so upset. But that didn't really matter as she already had one heck of a justified reason to be upset.

She had to confront Dipper today. Sit with him in a room for a whole thirty minutes, and elaborate on her feelings. Human emotions, the one thing that left her feeling so vulnerable and helpless against everything that threw itself at her. After that, she somehow had to rebuild her walls before she met with her parents for a luncheon. Not just any sort of luncheon, one with her parents and Dipper in between her. They were supposed to pretend to be engaged, and she didn't even know if Dipper would play along or not. This was going to be one heck of a very long and nerve-wracking day.

Even though she didn't want to, the Northwest heiress rose and got out of bed. Today was going to also involve wearing some of her absolute finest (And impractical.) Clothes. The only problem was fashionable and flattering also tended to be fairly uncomfortable to her most of the times. When she had to dress to match her status, she had to act like it as well.

The weather seemed determined in it's decision to remain cloudy and with the threat to rain. After hopping out of the shower and drying her hair, she walked in to her closet. Deciding to actually follow what the sky told her that day, Pacifica remembered to take out her waterproof makeup rather than her usual. She opted for a dress and a thin, white complementing jacket over top of it. She shimmied in to a pair of stockings, knowing she would be berated for not wearing them while company was over. She found a decent pair of heels that were not too obnoxious, and slipped those on as well.

Now ready and presentable, Pacifica knew she just needed to maintain the look for the rest of the day. So breakfast was out of the question. Not that she really would have been able to eat in front of her parents anyways. She began to nervously pace around her room, casting futile glances at her alarm clock. It was only ten-thirty six, what was she supposed to do until then?

As if to answer the blonde's please, there was a soft knock at her door. Her parents never gave her the simple privacy of knocking. Curious, she strode over to the door and opened it. Standing there was the families' chauffeur. Maybe Andrew was his name?

"Yes Avery?"

"It's Alex." The man sighed. "Well I thought you might want to... Leave a bit earlier, and I could umm... Drive around until it's twelve."

"Antoine you're a genius! Remind me to give you a raise." She smiled. "We'll sneak out through that servant's staircase behind that hideous portrait of the cows!"

"Close enough." The man said to himself, running a hair through his messy brown curls.

Before she knew it, they were driving through town. Pacifica relaxed in the back seat of the limo, trying to let her thoughts stray from what was to come. But too soon it was time to go, and before she knew it, Pacifica found herself standing out side of the Mystery Shack. Mabel had been waiting on the porch for her, and as soon as the driver opened the door she raced over to the blonde.

"Good! You're here!" She huffed, sounding rather breathless. "I thought I might have to run up the hill and drag you all the way down here!"

"A Northwest is as good as her words." She primly recited.

The brunette merely rolled her eyes at the woman's stiff formality. Just yesterday she had come running through the forest while her makeup running and no shoes on. Still, she invited her and the driver inside the Shack. Mabel lead the blonde in to Stan's office and gestured for her to take a seat.

Pacifica nervously squirmed in her spot as she waited for Dipper to come in to the room. She though she would be sick if there had been anything else but gnawing hunger in her stomach. A few minutes later, Dipper was practically dragged in to the room by Mabel and Soos. His sister forced him to sit down on the chair across from her, and he dejectedly sat there.

"Now I'm going to wait outside of this room until you two start to talk things out like adults." The brunette stated, closing the door behind her.

There was a deafening silence between the couple. Neither one would look in the other's direction for fear of what they would say or do. Pacifica tried to work up the back bone to speak, but she found the words could never make it past her mouth.

"L-look, Dipper." She began with a shuddering breath. "There was something I should have told you a long time ago. Right back to when we had first been dating."

"And what would that be?" He coldly asked.

"I never told you that at first I wanted to get revenge for everything you've done."

"What did I do other than be a faithful boyfriend to you?"

"You know what my parents are like, but you don't know everything about them. When you started going to school here, you beat me in everything. No matter how hard I tried or how long I studied for, you were always ahead of me by just a little bit. They didn't like it, and bit by bit you helped take away all of my freedom. Liberty I still haven't gotten back since you came in to my life.

"But you still gave me a new freedom with the one my parents took away. You're the only person ever who I've been able to talk about with stuff like this. But I was afraid if I told you about this, you leave me. And then my father told me how "lucky" someone as "stupid and "unattractive"as me could get such a guy, and he asked if he had proposed yet. I didn't want you to be the next thing I was trapped with because of everything my parents do. I snapped, and then broke up with you!"

As soon as she finished, the Northwest Heiress broke out in to sobs and covered her face. She didn't even mind the fact that all of her makeup was going to wash away. She just couldn't believe that she had been forced to explain this whole situation to someone else within the past day. She wanted to hide away or crawl under a rock so she would not have to deal with any more of this.

She couldn't face herself, or anyone else for that matter. The woman felt like a monster after she had finally broken down and taken everything out on Dipper. She didn't want to put up with the guilty conscience of what she had done. But she didn't want to be the one who had driven an innocent man around the bend as well.

It was all her fault that he didn't want to live anymore, didn't think that he deserved to live. It was her fault for making such stupid decisions, it was why her parents had always chosen for her instead. She didn't deserve any emotional support from him or anyone...

The woman jumped as she suddenly found herself enveloped in a hug from the man. She paused crying for a minute, frozen. She found herself clinging on to his vest. When she looked up at him, she was surprised to see tears trailing down his face as well. The man awkwardly cleared his throat, trying to not sound squeaky.

"T-that's good to know." He gently said.

"D-D-Dipper?"

"Yea?"

"I m-meant what I s-said when I told you t-that you weren't o-over Wendy." She quickly confessed.

" I guess you were right on that." The man sighed.

They were both quiet, not knowing what to say to each other. It would have gone on a lot longer if not for Mabel yelling through the door;

"And what are you two going to do to fix the problem?!"

"Oh God." Pacifica muttered, burying her face in her hands. "She was listening to the entire conversation."

"You bet your high heels I was!" The twin declared from the other side of the door. "So solution time. Chop, chop!"

The blonde looked up at Dipper, who seemed just as flustered as her.

"What are we going to do?" She asked.

The man was quiet for a moment, deep in thought.

"I can't date someone who kept a secret as big as that from me." He slowly started. _"I don't deserve someone as amazing as her."_

"And I can't date someone who still isn't over another person as well." Pacifica responded. _"I don't deserve someone as amazing as him."_

"So we're in agreement that we won't try getting back together like we used to be."

"We weren't at our best if this happened to us. If we had, neither of us would have to reveal how we felt about certain things. We weren't in a healthy relationship. But I don't want to go separate ways."

"I don't either. It would be hard to get used to you not being there. I didn't know what to do with myself when you told me that you didn't care."

"Should we start new?"

"Won't it be a little awkward?" Dipper wondered.

"Dipper, you don't know awkward until you invite Mabel Pines in to your house while wearing her clothes. I mean, how many cats can a girl have?! If I can handle animal fur, we can both take on a little awkwardness. After all, that's what love really is!"

The man felt a small pang. He had heard a similar speech just as he had agreed to just be friends with Wendy. But he felt an even larger one as he realized how not over Wendy he really felt at times. She had been more correct than he was aware at that assumption.

"Friends?" He shyly asked.

"Friends?" Pacifica wondered. "How can we be friends when I don't know who you are? I'm Pacifica Northwest, but who are you?"

"Oh! Well, I'm Dipper Pines. If by chance Stanford Pines cheated you out of something or robbed you we are not related in any way shape or form. If not, I'm his great-nephew."

"Well then Dipper Pines who is in no way to be associated with the man whole stole my purse last week, would you like to come over to the Northwest Mansion for lunch?"

"Was that Mabel's idea?" He winced.

"You bet it was!" The brunette cheerfully said, bouncing in to the room. "I told her parents that you two love birds were engaged, and they expect you over for lunch!"

Dipper's eyes widened in horror. Her parents thought they were engaged, and he would have no choice but to play along. Did they seriously think he could do anything right let alone this? How was he supposed to keep their approval if he was such a looser? Turning to Pacifica he saw the blonde looked just as nervous as he was feeling.

"There's no way you two are wriggling out on this." Mabel firmly said.

"Mabel, you're out-numbered." Dipper reminded his sister.

As if he was waiting for the cue, the chauffeur walked in to the threshold, blocking the door with Mabel.

"Allendale! You work for my family, you can't just do this!" Pacifica protested.

"Of course he can. Right Alex?" Mabel asked, turning to the man.

Alex didn't reply. A stricken look had come over his face, and he slowly turned to face Mabel. He silently stared into the young woman's eyes, tears of joy welling in his own. All of a sudden, he picked Mabel up in a bone-crushing hug and swung her around the room without a care in the world while laughing hysterically before stopping.

"Will you marry me?!" He asked, panting.

Flustered by the man's actions, she could only meekly say;

"That's a bit out of nowhere. Why do you want to marry me?"

"You know my name!" He explained to the brunette as if that made complete sense. "So wadda' ya' say? Will you marry me?"

"Umm, do you even know _my _name?" She asked.

The colour drained from the young man's once flushed cheeks. Embarrassed, he shook his head. Mabel couldn't help but giggle at how mortified he was now that the euphoria was wearing off. By far this had to be her favourite marriage proposal she had received from someone. Especially since most of them involved crazy people threatening her, albinos, and gnomes. But just because she had been caught up in this , it didn't mean she didn't see Dipper and Pacifica sneak out of the room.

"Tell you what. I'll consider it if you help me round up our escapees."


	5. Lunch at the Northwests

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

It did not take much effort for Mabel to persuade Alex in to helping her find Dipper and Pacifica. They found Dipper first, hiding behind the Shack as he tried to take refuge from the brunette's plan. Once they had made him slip on something fashionable, they dragged him to the Northwest's limo. Alex turned on the child lock, much to Dipper's frustration.

"Come on!" He complained, placing his hands on the tinted glass trying to be seen.

His sister only giggled in reply. As it turned out, Pacifica simply hid at the side of the house in an effort to half-heartedly escape the schemes. But she was disheveled, and her makeup was now a runny mess like yesterday. But unlike the day past, preparations had been made by the chauffeur for just this problem. Opening the driver's side of the car, he pulled out Pacifica's travel case of makeup he had scooped up on their retreat from the mansion.

"Al, you're a live saver!" The blonde gasped, snatching the case.

"It's Alex, but you're welcome." He replied.

"Yes that." Pacifica dismissed.

Mabel lead her back in to the Shack to help with her makeup and make sure that she looked presentable from all angles once more, and showed no signs that she had been crying. The slightly older Pines escorted her to the upstairs bathroom, which was in better condition than the water closet and the Outhouse of Mystery.

The once white enamel tiles compromised the floor along with the backsplash for the shower and sink. They were a stained yellow mainly, and had shifted and cracked with time. The mirror in the bathroom was simple, but bubbled up and was warped near the edges, behind it the medicine cabinet. The sink and toilet looked like they were in need of a good scrubbing as well, hard water stains making their marks, but it didn't look like that would be happening any time soon.

The shower was one of the old-fashioned kind that was not attached to the floor, but stood on clawed feet. Tubes of various toothpastes and an entire cup "borrowed" from the diner was jam-packed with various toothbrushes that really should have been thrown out. Even older cans of shaving cream, and blunt razors could be found on the counter top as well. To Pacifica's amusement, there was even a box of brown hair dye. Something told her it had been Stan who got and used it in an attempt to look younger at some point in his elderly life.

The woman washed what little remained of her makeup off in the sink, and made sure to use a few makeup wipes to clear things as well. Then she went back to reapplying everything. Dusting her cheeks, painting her lips, out lining her eyes. Mabel found that there was nothing for her to do other than watch the Northwest Heiress as she quickly and expertly fixed any seams in her usually flawless appearance. Realizing this, the brunette quickly got herself ready and cleaned up as well.

The blonde studied her face from all angles and smoothed down any fly away hairs that would dare unstick from their place. Now certain she looked like what was expected of her in every way possible, Pacifica turned back to Mabel.

"Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be." She informed the brunette.

"Good." Mabel beamed. "If you look confident, you'll feel and act confident!"

If only Mabel knew what was racing through Pacifica's mind at the current time. How was she supposed to lie to her parents? Didn't the other woman know what a terrible position she had been put in by doing this? She was a terrible liar, and so was Mabel. And what ever the odds that Dipper would want to cooperate with the whole act? Doomed, they were all doomed.

* * *

The drive up to the Northwest Mansion was a tense one to say the least. Alex had to put on his act of being a mere servant once more, and was only able to side with Pacifica in anything she said. This left Mabel frustrated as she tried to cheer up the nervous and still upset couple. Dipper still felt put out by being stopped by the simple mechanism known as child locks on the door. And it did not help that Pacifica was rattling off a long list of every detail about her parents and their expectations.

How was he supposed to hold up their expectations? How was he supposed to get anything right in front of them? Knowing his usual looser self he would mess up everything, slip up and ruin the entire act. How could they put so much trust and rely on him of all people? They must have truly been desperate to condescend towards asking for his lackluster help.

But if he could do nothing right, what about Pacifica? On her parent's instruction she was perfect, without any cracks. She could never slip up, do any wrong. She worked so hard to meet her parent's expectations, had remembered and executed every last thing they told her. She was going on about teaching him how to become a younger version of them. She sounded like some sort of sick, twisted Pacifica-doll, but to record and repeat everything her parents had ever programmed in to her.

"And only make proper eye contact when they're asking a question and you're replying. Otherwise they'll think you're challenging their superiority. Make sure that you sit with your-"

"Shut up!" Dipper cried before he could catch himself. "Don't you hear what you're saying?! They've got you completely under their thumbs Pacifica! Just-"

The man gave a sigh of frustration and agony, hiding his face with his hands. Pacifica stopped talking, and Mabel looked at her brother in shock. She considered reprimanding him for the outburst, but decided it would only create more tension and make things worse. Instead they both remained silent.

"Look, I'm sorry for that ok?" He apologized, voice slightly muffled through his hands. "You're both just putting so much pressure on me out of nowhere. I'll be fine, I can handle them."

_"No one can handle them." _Pacifica bitterly thought to herself.

All were so caught up in the tension, no one had realized that they had arrived. Alex opened the door, posture and facial expression straight as he resumed his job. Pacifica stepped out first, followed by a smiling Mabel and reluctant Dipper. His sister grabbed them both by the arms and linked the couple together.

The blonde took a deep breath as she stared up at the imposing front of the mansion. Then with a nod, she carefully strode up the slate-grey steps, leaning on Dipper slightly. Stanley was there waiting for them, and the head butler opened the door for the trio. They entered the front hall, and followed Pacifica's instructions on not gaping at the opulence. Standing under the exaggerative chandelier, they all remained with their eyes on the grand stair case.

"Your luncheon guests have arrived! " The grey-haired man announced.

Pacifica's parents appeared from the right side of the stairs and winded their way down, arms intertwined. Instantly Dipper felt himself being surveyed by her parents. After a couple tense seconds of scrutiny, a little of the tension lifted.

"Mrs. Northwest." Dipper first greeted with a polite smile and bow. "Mr. Northwest."

Patricia Northwest's permanently smiling features grew even wider, as did Pacifica's father's.

"Dipper, it's so wonderful to finally meet you at last!" Pacifica's mother greeted. "And congratulations on your engagement."

"Thank-you ma'am, Pacifica really swept me off of my feet, and I couldn't imagine anyone else I'd want to spend my life with."

"Yes, yes that's wonderful." Preston dismissed. "Now let's head to the _family _dinning room shall we son?"

Dipper internally winced as he was already being called son, and heard the man's emphasis on certain words. He did not even acknowledge his daughter or Mabel! Things would only serve to feel more awkward as he was dragged ahead from his shoulders by the man, so he was forced to walk with him and his wife while Pacifica and Mabel were left out of any polite conversation they had. Dipper found all of his responses to their words were robotic and exactly what they wanted to hear from him. Half the time the words were put in his own mouth!

Once they reached the family dinning room, the explosive air was even more prominent. He knew Mabel was not taking all the blood-red and severed animal heads mounted on the walls very well, she looked slightly pale. But he couldn't really tell because she and Pacifica had been seated at the farther end of the table while was to the right of Preston who sat at the head of the table, and across from Patricia.

"So Dipper, what experience do you have in the business world?" Patricia asked.

Dipper knew what this was leading up to from a million miles away, and had already prepared how to answer the question.

"All jobs are business, no matter the role they play. When someone hires you, it isn't because they want to, it's because you are there to fill in a gap and help their business. But I will assume you're referring to things more along the lines of the ink and paper parks of running any business, along with decision-making. I worked as a page for the state parliament, and have been working at a law firm ever since I finished that, working on mainly small cases. Wills, monetary issues, disowning and so on. I have been managing any financial and legal affairs with my great-uncle's business."

"A lawyer you say?" Preston asked, some what unimpressed.

"Yes. I considered becoming an attorney, but decided it wasn't my field. I'd rather work somewhere where I would not be considered a good for nothing ball of scum." Dipper somewhat defensively answered.

Before anything more could be said, lunch arrived. The brunette only found himself feeling more aggravated as Pacifica and Mabel were again practically ignored in favour of serving him first. But luckily for him, the spotlight was suddenly focused on Mabel as Mrs. Northwest brough up wedding plans. Mabel was apparently in charge of planning the wedding because Preston had simply and ignorantly assumed she was.

The young woman seemed comfortable enough discussing colour themes and what would be in and fashionable by the time the wedding came around. Dipper felt sick to his stomach as he heard the Northwest matriarch haggling with Mabel over wedding dates. Pacifica's parents wanted it to be as soon as possible so Pacifica would not drive him away in any sense, while Mabel wanted it to be as distant as humanly possible.

Through all of this, not once was Pacifica ever spoken to or addressed. Her name wasn't even used. She was simply refered to as "the bride" or "our daughter." She pushed around her salad, making a mess of the dressing as it spread across her plate, but one admonishing look from her mother was enough to stop the blonde from doing anything else that might offend the Queen of England from her palace hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.

Dipper's heart went out to his ex-girlfriend as he saw how her parents were choosing to believe that she did not exist. In a bold move, he waited for Mabel to finish what she had said about location before asking;

"What do you think Pacifica?"

The blonde stared at him in barely concealed horror. Had she not told him to never ask what her opinion was in front of her parents? Or had she forgotten and never gotten to after he told her to stop talking? Fear flashed in her eyes as a silence resounded while everyone waited for her reply.

"Whatever you all agree to settle for is what I will be happiest with." She decisively said, knowing it was what she was supposed to say.

Both of her parents now relaxed as they heard her automatic response to the question. But now they turned on Dipper due to his surprising and audacious question. He tried bringing up their daughter once more, but they would have none of it and grew more vicious.

"That's it." Dipper snapped, getting to his feet. "There is no way I am lying about this any longer. Pacifica and I are _not _engaged."

Mabel and Pacifica both gave shocked gasps, as did Patricia. How could Dipper just sell them out and betray Pacifica like this? Did he not know what he had just done to Pacifica by saying it was a lie all along? Didn't he understand what the blonde would face because of this?!

Much to everyone's surprise, Preston smiled a laughed.

"Wonderful! I'm glad to know see that you didn't forget about asking my permission before you formally announced you were engaged!"

Pacifica wanted to cry in relief, while Mabel and Dipper felt like slapping their foreheads and slowly dragging their palms down their face. How ignorant could one man possibly be?! Dipper planned correcting him, but as soon as he saw the fear on Pacifica's face, he realized what he had just done and could have caused. Guilt swirled in his stomach as he thought about how badly he had just messed up. He knew there was no choice but to agree. He sat back down and nodded.

"Yes sir. I never had a chance to ask, and figured you would want a more formal event for our engagement." He fibbed.

Patricia's eyes widened.

"Oh goodness! We heed to hire party planners right away!"

She looked over at her husband with pleading eyes. They were the only things she could truly emote with because of all the plastic surgery done to her face over the years.

"Yes darling, you're most certainly right!" He agreed. "I'm afraid we'll have to call our lunch a little short though."

"Oh no! That's fine!" Dipper agreed as if he actually had a choice. "I know how important this is for you to plan as soon as possible."

"STANLEY!" The strident woman's voice screeched throughout nearly the entire manor.

"You rang?" The grey-haired man tiredly sighed from his spot beside the Northwest matriarch.

"Tell the driver to warm up the car and drive our _son _home. Our daughter can accompany him as well, but miss Pines will stay here to help with the wedding plans."

Mabel internally groaned as she realized she would not escape the stiff formality, nor would she be freed from having to go on about the wedding and engagement party. Dipper and Pacifica on the other hand both sprang up eagerly from their seats. Stanley only gave another sigh and shook his head. At least the pay was good.

The head butler exited the room, escorting both Dipper and Pacifica out of the room, while leaving a dismayed Mabel in the dinning room. All was silent between the trio with the exception of their heels alternately clicking on the floor. They were lead out the side door of the house, where the chauffeur was already idling on the driveway as he waited for the couple.

The drive back home was even worse than the one on the way Dipper or Pacifica could look at each other for fear of what the other person would say. Dipper wanted to scream in protest about how her parents treated her, while Pacifica in turn wanted to yell at Dipper for nearly giving everything away. The blonde got her chance to do so as they pulled up to the Mystery Shack, and stepped outside.

**_Smack!_**

Dipper held his now stinging cheek with the palm of his hand, and took in a sharp breath as he felt the burning creep under his man was certain his cheek was already red from being slapped by his ex-girlfriend so vehemently. But that to him. After all, it was his fault for messing up so badly. He deserved this slap and more for nearly ruining the entire plan. No, not just that. He really deserved so much more than this for every single time he had screwed up. People kept continuing to put their faith in him, yet he always failed. This was only start of what he had earned, and he would see to it that he learned from his mistakes.

"You absolute idiot! What if they had believed you?!" Pacifica shrieked, bordering on hysterics. "Do you know what they would have done to me if they found out that I was lying? They would have-"

Pacifica's voice broke at the end, and she found herself sitting on the ground with her head resting between her legs as she tried to keep what few shreds remained of her cool. But she could not and once more burst in to tears as the uncontrollable emotions she tried to keep buried took charge of her.

"I know it was stupid." Dipper quietly agreed, his voice rising with each syllable. "But I couldn't take it, didn't you see how they were treating you? It was like you didn't exist in their eyes, like your own parents thought you were nothing! Half the time I thought your parents were just barely holding back on insulting your or launching in to a giant rant if not for the fact that it might have driven me off! Can you blame me for not being able to see you hurt like that by the people who are supposed to care for you the most?!"

"Yes." The blonde sniffed. "Yes I can."

"And why?!" The man snarled.

The Northwest heiress slowly curled up in to an even tighter ball, and started to rock back and forth as she tried to reply to his question.

"Why?" The brunette asked once more.

Feeling the pressure in his voice, the woman snapped;

"Because if I put up with all these years, so could you!"

Dipper sighed and sat down on the ground across from her, mimicking her position.

"Why didn't you ever tell me how bad it was?" The young man softly inquired.

"Because a Northwest never shows any weaknesses, and accepts pity from no one." She dully recited.

"But don't you hear what you're saying Pacifica? Don't you get what your parents have forced you to be for your entire life?"

Through her tears, Pacifica glared at her ex-boyfriend.

"Because it doesn't matter. It never did."

"Didn't matter?! Pacifica, they're abusing you!"

The blonde bristled as she heard him say this, but her aggravation wore away to something else as she genuinely began to consider what he had said. Yet something in her mind immediately shut away the thought, the mechanism that kept her from thinking dangerous things, saying what would end up causing her harm. Instead, she denied the accusation.

"They haven't been doing that. And even if they had, it doesn't matter?"

A certain question word Dipper found himself saying more and more escaped his lips.

"Why?"

She did not reply to this. Pacifica did not want to explain how trapped she was. How trapped Dipper was. How they were both damned thanks to this plan now that her parents thought they were engaged. If either one of them tried to cross her parents or back out, the repercussions would not be pretty.

For sure her parents would use their extensive reach to stop them from ever getting another job, or earning money in any sense. They could run anywhere in the world, change their names, their appearances, the entire story of their lives, and yet they would still hire someone to find them, and make both of their lives hell from there. And they would do so until the day they both finally succumbed to malnutrition or some sort of sickness.

If she told him... Pacifica had no idea how Dipper would react if she explained how mercilessly helpless they now were. What would he do? What could they both do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing but play along with her parent's schemes until the day they both kicked the bucket and left her everything.

To her shock, the young man guessed exactly what was running through her mind.

"We're stuck, aren't we?" He asked with barely suppressed anger.

"Yes." She slowly nodded in reply. "Even if Mabel had never told them... They just assumed we were anyways. They never would have listened."

"There must be something we can do! They're abusing you, file a suit, put them in jail! Call them out on blackmail!"

"Dipper, what lawyer, correction, what human being in their right mind take on this sort of case against my parents?! You may as well be trying to arrest the air for supplying itself to criminals!"

_"I'm not in my right mind. But even if I could take on this case, I'd be sure to mess up. I can't do the simplest of things right."_

But even as he thought that, Dipper felt a hint of remorse and hope. Maybe he could. Perhaps there was a way to put her parents behind bars for the things they had done. Even if he could not do things without always messing up, maybe there could be a way to find proof behind what her parents did.

"We never should have tried to get back together." Pacifica quietly muttered.

He looked at her in surprise and shock.

"And where would we be if we had never tried?" Dipper firmly asked.

"I-I don't know." She sniffed.

"Well, neither do I." He sheepishly admitted. "But I do know we'd probably be worse off than we are now 'Cify."

The young woman allowed a watery smile to grace her features as she heard the uplifting nickname. She scooched over to the brunette, and gave him a hug around the shoulders. Dipper remained stiff and frozen there as she held him like that, unsure of how to respond. But he would not need to worry about that as the chauffeur stepped out of the car, and go delicately said;

"Maybe I should just go be somewhere else right now?"

They snapped apart, and both turned bright red as they was the irrepressible driver staring down at them with what almost looked like amusement.

"How much of that did you hear?!" Pacifica practically screamed.

Startled, he backed away from the couple slightly.

"Relax, I just saw the two of you hugging." Alex lied.

Pacifica narrowed her eyes in suspicion, as did Dipper. But neither of them decided it was worth the time to interrogated the driver. Alex inwardly sagged in relief at this. How was he supposed to explain to them all the thinks he heard and saw? It was not his fault he happened to know lots of things about Gravity Falls...

"Can I trust you to drive my sister home without proposing Amir?" Dipper asked.

"It's Alex." The man replied, awkwardly trying to hide his blush as he rubbed the back of his neck. "But yea, I won't try anything of the sorts. My guess is if I mentioned a wedding after all that planning, she'd throw me into the bottomless pit."

"How do you know about the bottomless pit?" Dipper wondered.

Alex blanched. With a lightning speed, he hopped over the hood of the limo and slipped in to the driver's speeding off and leaving them in the dust of the road, he hastily explained;

"I know lots of things!"

Dipper scratched his usually hidden birthmark, wondering who he had heard say that before, and why it made him feel so uncomfortable. Almost as if he was being watched. Well he didn't have time to dwell on the eccentricities of the driver with everything else in his way. How were he and Pacifica supposed to pull out of this alive?


	6. His Name is Antion- I Mean Alex

**Behold! The story arc of Mabel truly gets rolling! I can only write feels for so long before you think you'll die from all the drama I put you through after all.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

Mabel stood on the front steps of the Northwest mansion, having just escaped Patricia Northwest and her insane wedding plans for Pacifica and Dipper. The girl would have loved nothing more than to never show up anywhere near the Northwest matriarch after that, but she had already promised to continue helping with the engagement party plans on the weekend. The brunette was really starting to regret lying about Dipper and Pacifica being engaged! Her parents were insufferable!

"The driver should be here any minute Ms. Pines." Stanley informed her.

Mabel jumped I surprise and turned to face the elderly man, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She gave the grey-haired man a brief smile and nodded.

"Thanks..."

"Stanley." The head butler finished. "Stanley Yelnats."

The young woman looked at him in surprise and gave a tiny giggle.

"How do you spell your last name?"

A shadow crossed the head butler's face.

"Yes, it's my first name backwards." He sighed.

"Almost like a fake last name." Mabel mused. "But I doubt that you're hiding anything major."

"I'm not British." The butler huffed, returning to his regular American accent. "They just expect me to act like I am."

"You have to fake an accent for your job?"Mabel asked in wonderment.

"Unfortunately. Everyone in the kitchen staff has to fake a French one, so it could be worse for me. And the head chef's name isn't even Lysander, it's Mac. But try telling that to them!"

Mabel merely shook her head the eccentricities of their employers. They must have been desperate to keep up such an illusion of perfection and wealth if they forced their workers to speak differently how pathetically insecure was that? Pretending to be something they were not, it was exactly like their claims of Nathaniel Northwest founding the town!

Just then, the chauffeur pulled up on the drive way, snapping Mabel out of her train of thoughts. She waved to the head butler before taking a seat in the back. The limo drove off in to the gradually encroaching night. The woman sighed and rested her head against the car window. She had a _lot _to think about.

* * *

Alex grinned to himself in what Pacifica found to be an ever more annoying fashion. Why was he smiling so much? To her it seemed impossible that someone could be so cheerful through everything. To her it seemed like the entire world should have been dismal, that was what it had looked like to her at first. Yet here this bobble-head was, not even trying to stop with his cheerful demeanor. Finally, she could no longer stand the driver's expression. Huffing in irritation, Pacifica snapped;

"What are you smiling so much about?!"

The brown-haired man gave a dreamy sigh, and almost seemed to be staring off in to space. Pacifica certainly hoped he wasn't. Especially since he was the one driving the car. The blonde cleared her throat, indicating that she had still not been answered by her employee.

"If you don't mind me asking, who was that brunette you were talking with yesterday?" Alex asked in a far off tone.

"Oh, Mabel?" She curiously asked, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Why did you want to know?"

"No reason, no reason..." He mused, swerving in to the wrong lane.

"Aaron-"

"Alex." He absent-mindedly corrected.

"Yes that. You just swerved in to the left lane without realizing it, I'm pretty sure what you're thinking about is not nothing."

"I might have told her something..." He absently said, taking a hard right back into the correct lane.

"What did you tell her?"

"My name."

Pacifica rolled her eyes at this. That was all?

"Everyone knows your name Abernathy. Why is this so significant?"

The man snapped out of his reverie, and a horrified look slowly came across his face.

_"My name is Alex." He introduced for what was probably the eighth time on the ride to the Shack._

_Mabel looked at the man in a mixture of confusion and amusement. Why did he keep reminding her of that? Yes she got that no one in Pacifica's family, not even Pacifica herself got his name right, but she already knew what it was, the reached their destination, and the driver leaped out of his seat to open the door for Mabel. As she stepped outside once more, he replayed;_

_"My name is Alex."_

_"I know that already. Why do you keep saying that?" The brunette wondered._

_"So you know what to scream in bed tonight." The man thought to himself._

_Only, it didn't quite seem to be so. Judging from the reddening expression Mabel's face, he had definitely not just thought that to himself. Blushing now, and stuttering, Alex quietly voiced;_

_"I-I said t-that out loud d-didn't I?"_

_"Yes. You did." Mabel quietly agreed._

_"I t-think I'll just go d-die now."_

_The man planned to leap over the hood of the car and lock himself in the mercifully bullet-proof thus Stanford Pines-proof car when Mabel grabbed his shoulder._

_"Don't worry, you could have done worse even if that was far from suave or charming. But since you actually seem sorry I'll give you a chance."_

_"C-chance?" He asked in surprise, turning to face her._

_Mabel's expression split into a grin. Giving him a small punch in the arm she beamed;_

_"Ya silly! Weren't you just going to ask me out?"_

_Alex had not planned on asking her out, especially since he was feeling everything but bold around Mabel. It was a strange contrast, considering that he normally did what ever he wanted just to bother or spite someone. Even his own employers were not safe from him. _

_Yet there was something about actually meeting face to face with Mabel that suddenly calmed him down. Maybe it had to do with all the extra energy she possessed. It was almost like she sucked it out of everyone so she could keep running laps around everyone. But that was far from a bad thing. _

_Any other time he would have disliked it in someone, but here was person who could finally match him in levels of energy. Even if he did keep tripping and falling over himself like a complete Dipper Pines. She seemed to bring out the inner teenaged dork in him. _

_"R-r-really?" He finally managed to ask._

_"If my brother could ask out Pacifica by accidentally spilling ketchup in his cereal, then I'm certain this is only a little bit worse."_

"You ended up getting a date because you were wondering what she was like in bed?" Pacifica asked in horror.

"No! It was an accident! I just said it because it was an instinctive retort!"

"So you're telling me acting like a fifth grader got you a date then?" The blonde skeptically asked.

"Yes!" The driver replied in distress, running a hand through his hair.

"So what's the down side to this? Asides from the fact that you asked out Mabel Pines that is?"

"I thought it was great at first, but now I just realized that I turn into a complete Dipper Pines when around her! How am I supposed to talk? I bet she thinks that I'm a total creep because of saying that! What are we going to do for a date?"

Pacifica bristled as she heard her ex boyfriend's name being used as and adjective. Sure he had been nervous and put condiments in his cereal instead of milk, but that didn't mean he could just say that about her man. Pacifica snapped something back at him, but the man was too busy listening to himself as he rambled on about all the complications of why he could not and should not go on a date with the one and only Mabel Pines.

* * *

Did he really want to do this?

Dipper took several shallow breaths, and the grip his fingers had on the bathroom sink tightened. He looked up to face his hollowed expression in the bathroom mirror, silently asking himself if he really wanted to go through with this. The window was open, letting the summer air waft in to the room. A bare lightbulb illuminated the otherwise dark room, giving his face and hands a waxy, pale, haunted look. Shadows danced around if he moved in the slightest to block the light's path.

"Do I really want to do this?" He softly asked himself.

Dipper tried to focus on the positives, but it felt like he was holding all of his family's and friend's words in a sieve. They all kept falling out on him one by one, leaving him left with nothing more than emptiness. It felt like he would never be able to pull himself back out of the grave that he was digging himself. He felt so trapped! He was trapped. He was going to marry a woman he wasn't even sure still loved him and would have to live under black mail the rest of his life thanks to her parents.

It seemed like there would be no escape for him. He had to try to meet their expectations even though he could never do anything correctly. He would just end up failing over and over again as he continue to dig this hole that he even now could not pull himself out of and brush off the dirt. He just needed something, anything that could give him the temporary release he so very much needed.

But as he stood there locked up in the washroom, he wasn't sure that he could go through with it after all. Laying there in the sink was one of his great-uncle's razor blades. He had held it at first, letting his thumb and fore finger brush over the unforgiving blades, but he had put too much pressure on his thumb as he stoked it, and left a thin sever in his thumb.

He had dropped the blade as a searing pain spread through the spot, it felt nothing like the freedom he had been longing for. It had just felt like pain. Droplets of blood welled up and squeezed through the neat slice, but he did nothing to prevent the bleeding. He just held his cut over the stained white basin of the sink, and let it splash and roll down in to the drain. It would clot on it's own.

This was where he found himself, staring down at the trails of blood and razor, wondering if he should pick it back up. Cautiously, he picked up the blade with his uninjured fingers, but he washed the streak of blood off of it, and then set it back on it's rightful place on the counter top. Was this the pain he longed for? The release? Did he feel any release from it at all? It was a flaming, searing feeling, the same heat he was digging towards in that hole in hell. It was worse, not better.

"C-coward." Dipper berated himself.

He couldn't take the pain, even that was something he could not do. Well if he could not take it then he would just force himself to bare with it! He tried to will his hand to pick up the cold piece of metal once more, but could not. Weak, pathetic! He reached slightly under his shirt, and tightly pinched his side. The man was suddenly surprised to discover that this new-found was much more bearable, so much more free.

It didn't hurt a much at first, but little jolts of ever-sharpening pain spread through the spot pinched tight but his thumb and forefinger. It was so much more alleviating. It left behind a small little mark that could stay hidden, and would heal much more quickly with time. Yet he would still be able to feel the little reminders of what he needed to do. He let go of the spot, leaving a crescent-shaped indent where his nails had held onto the spot.

Then the pinched himself again, only this time he held the same spot longer and pressed his nails deeper in to his skin. This time when he let go he had drawn a little blood, but it quickly dried up on it's own accord. He could carry these tiny reminders and no one would ever be able to tell. When he messed up again he could just use this to hold in all of the pain. It would be his secret. He would prove to himself that he would be able to at least keep one secret, no matter how futile it may have been.

The journals, their engagement, his feelings for Wendy... Dipper shook his head as the red-head somehow creeped in to his thoughts once more. He thought that he had gotten over her a long time ago, but since Pacifica had pointed it out he realized he reminisced about her a little too much. He wasn't over her clearly, but why? Why was it that the lumberjack's daughter seemed to always show up in his mind?

"Dipper dude, are you like done in the washroom yet? You've been brushing your teeth for like the past twenty minutes."

Soos' curious words snapped the man out of his reverie. Dipper quickly wet and picked up his toothbrush before sticking it him his mouth, then he opened the door to admit the man-child. Soos stood there in the doorway, hiding his suspicions as he looked at Dipper's sleeves. Guessing what he was still thinking, Dipper rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands, letting Soos see that he had not done anything to harm them at all. Then the young man spat into the sink as if finishing off with his teeth.

"They can never be too clean you know." Dipper pretended to excuse.

"You got that right dude!" The man-child agreed with a fleeting smile.

Dipper fixed his hair under his hat for a moment, and then exited the washroom.

"So what are you still doing here? Isn't your shift at the diner not over until closing time?"

"It is." Soos nodded. "But I sortta' got this feeling that I dunno', you needed to talk with someone. Coulda' just been the pizza I had for dinner, but I decided it would just be best to close things up early tonight and see how you were holding up."

Dipper was quiet for a moment. At first he thought that he didn't want to talk to anyone about how he was feeling, and what was going on. But then he realized he did want to talk, just not about any of the insanity that had been his life over the past few days. He gave him a half-hearted smile, which the former handyman returned.

"Yea, your gut was right."

"My wisdom is both a blessing, and a curse." They recited at the same time.

That was one of the first things Dipper had remembered Soos ever saying to him, as he sat in the attic with the journal, speculating on Mabel's "zombie" boyfriend. Sometimes he couldn't believe that the first summer he spent in Gravity Falls with Mabel had been nearly twelve years ago, it seemed like such a long time.

"I remember the first time you said that." Dipper mused aloud.

Soos laughed slightly.

"Yea, you were just a little dude then! Now you're like a foot taller than Stan!"

"Hey! Just because I'm old doesn't mean I can't hear you!" Stan called from somewhere in the Mystery Shack.

Now both of them couldn't help but snort. Even in old age Stan wasn't loosing his hearing, it had just become even more selective. Complaints from Dipper and Mabel never heard, while the man could pick up the voices of tourists on a bus from a kilometer away. Or so it seemed to be.

"Maybe we should go to the roof then." Dipper suggested.

They made their way to the gift shop and then climbed up the hidden ladder to where the spot on the roof was situated. Both men sat down on the ledge with their feet dangling over the side of the roof. It was dark now clouds blotting out the stars and casting a halo around the moon, threatening to start pouring any second. But most likely the storm would remain delayed for a bit.

They sat there in silence for a moment, listening to the sound of the woods. Crickets chirping, coyotes and wolves howling, eerie calls of birds, and the occasional noise that didn't sound completely normal. More like a dangerous supernatural creature than anything else.

"Soos, do you remember when I first had my crush on Wendy?" Dipper asked, breaking the silence.

"Of course I did dude! Mabel ran screaming to me about how she found you kissing a pillow with her face on it."

Dipper blushed at that, but nevertheless didn't try to stray from topic at all.

"Yea, that was one heck of a crazy summer with everything that went on. I look back on it fondly most of the time, but every now and then I sort of wonder what I ever saw in Wendy. We were practically polar opposites, but in a bad way. She wasn't exactly the most reliable of people either, and I probably just would have ended up like another one of her thousand guys."

"We still had a lot of fun times as a gang though."

"Yea, we did." He replied, smiling at the memories. "Summerween."

"Stan's first, and last, Mystery Shack Dance of Mystery." The handyman added.

"The time when the gift shop went berserk on us."

"That one summer where we pranked the crazy pool guy in to eating all the pool floaties." Soos supplied, smiling beaverishly at the memory.

"That epic movie marathon where she brough all of that junk food."

"And who can forget that time when I was a zombie? Now _that _was a karaoke party to remember dude!"

"The bunker..." Dipper sadly trailed off.

"She was just a crush dude, it's never really supposed to make sense." Soos pointed out. "Look at me and Giffany! Where was the attraction there?"

Dipper shivered at the memory of Soos' old dating simulator. Horrific that program was! The man picked up a pinecone that had been left in the eaves trough. Then he hurled it over the edge of the roof, and off in to the growing darkness.

"Then how come I'm not over her?" He sighed.

"I dunno'. Maybe there was just something about her that reminded you of someone else. Maybe you found her still attractive because you missed someone else, and she almost seemed like them to you. It's not really her you miss, but someone else." The man-child suggest, giving one of his rare nuggets of hidden wisdom. " But hey, what do it know? You're talking with the same guy who took a girl on a date to a children's restaurant. I wouldn't be looking to me for credibility."

Dipper got up and stretched, making sure to kind the ever-dangerous shingles on the roof.

"Thanks anyways Soos." He yawned.

"No problem dude, that's what friends are for."

"I'm going to head inside, are you going to stay out here?"

"Yea." The man-child nodded. "I think I will."

So he left his friend sitting there on the roof, while returning to his own bedroom to let their talk sink in. After Soos had stopped formally working at the Mystery Shack he had left Dipper with his old break room. The man-child had moved on to bigger things, namely Greasy's Diner. He had discovered that along with fixing stuff, he was also the best waffle chef in all of Oregon State. But he still came around every now and then to help run the Shack for Stan, along with catter most of Stan's events at a discount. This discount namely being free, but it was still something.

The room had been his since the third summer he had spent in Gravity Falls with Mabel. But he had still not done much to it other than help Soos move most of his posters and trinkets out of it. His bed was pushed in one corner of the room, away from the windows. The small bathroom had been scrubbed to the best of his abilities, which never seemed to stop the spiders from making new cobwebs every day. The couch he often times found himself crashing on remained in it's place. He had moved a small desk in where his laptop rested, and had a few cabinets for all of his papers from work and internships carefully filed away.

Dipper winced as he saw that he had left his laptop on. The man had been certain he had shut if off before locking himself in the bathroom. But a sharp pinch to his side quickly reprimanded him for forgetting not to do so. He made a move to close it, when his eyes rested on his desktop background.

It was a picture of him and Pacifica sitting in the diner. He wore a shocked expression, realizing that he had poured ketchup in to his cereal while distractedly attempting to talk with Pacifica. The blonde was laughing at him, while pointing at the ketchup bottle. Mabel had snapped it from the window, declaring that she never missed a scrapbook-tunity. The man felt his heart squeeze at the surge of memories that followed. The smell of her perfume that day, the change he had clinking in his pocket, how he had to pull off his hat and wipe his forehead in an attempt to disguise how much he was sweating out of nervousness...

**Are you sure you want to delete this item? Once you have it can not be undone.**

For some reason the words made Dipper freeze in his actions. There was something ominous about them. Instead he dragged it over to his picture library. Opening the file he was met with more picture that had been uploaded over the past while. Brief snap shots of monsters, often times blurred, photos Mabel had snapped at an inopportune time. He found his mouse resting on one in particular.

**momandmabes. jpeg**

It was a picture of his mother and a twelve year old Mabel, practically cheek to cheek, and both widely smiling at the camera. The mother and daughter closely resembled each other in facial features, asides from his mom's scattered freckles, green eyes, and red hair.

Dipper felt a flicker of sadness as he saw the picture. It must have been one of the last ones he and Mabel had ever taken of their mother before she and their dad had passed away. He and Mabel had cried for days and days after they received the news, and Stan would not come out from his office until three days after. Both of them gone without a warning in what was deemed an unfortunate accident. A house fire. Not only destroying their parents but the only home they had ever known in California.

It hurt, it still did, but time had softened the pain of loosing both his parents. He, Mabel, and Stan had been able to on move on with life afterwards, they had managed. After all, they had Wendy, Soos, and later Pacifica there to help them when things got rough. Sometimes it was still hard to believe that they were gone, it just felt like one long summer vacation at times.

His dad had always been rather quiet, especially in comparison to his lively wife. But he had always ben there to listen, even though he always had some sort of work that he had to do. But most of the time he was soft-spoken, and a caring father, even if they could never really relate to each other. His mother had been a different story all together.

It was clear where Mabel had gotten her boundless energy and creativity from. He was the one who was often yanking Dipper out of his shell, making him do new things outside of his comfort zone, often times winning in her efforts. She had been the one who wanted to send Dipper and Mabel to visit her mysterious uncle who lived in the woods, and persuade her husband and the twins that it was a good idea. She was the one who had given Mabel the great ideals of an epic summer adventure, and new opportunities for himself.

When she had died, it felt like there was a giant gash left inside of him. Something so empty and missing, that could never be replaced. His mother was the reason why living in Gravity Falls had been one of the best things that had ever happened to him. His mother was the one who had taken the time to try and understand him, pull him out from always hiding, and often times pressuring him in to doing crazy things with her and his sister. Just like-

Dipper felt his heart freeze at the sudden realization.

_Just like Wendy._


	7. Road Trip

**Shameless hints all through the start of this chapter. Actually, my hints are probably as subtle as a pick-up truck to the face, but that's all with good reason. But I would like to state that both Alex and Stanley will not be playing any major roles of sorts, or take over the plot. They're just there to add to the Gravity Fallsness. I wouldn't expect Stanley to have any sort of story arc at all, and Alex only has a minor role whenever Mabel is involved.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

**My Disclaimer: All (shown) lyrics to the song _Girl I need U in my Life_**_ by Several Timez_ **_belong to me. (It's not turning in to a song fic, there just happens to be three or so lines that are played.)_**

* * *

Dipper swiveled around in his chair, and then blew out a long breath. He pushed around the papers regarding the case he was working on. It was a difficult, more unpleasant one regarding a fractured family. One spouse was vying for a divorce, but at the same time they were trying to disown their son, who was attempting to claim money left over by a dead relative. It was like some sort of terrible soap opera with all the worst possible situations throwing themselves there at the same time.

Yet his old mystery-solving skills liked to resurface for this sort of case, even if they weren't needed. He wasn't trying to make a mad dash to court in order to reveal all the plans of the family, it was just his job to sort everything out and get it solved. Stan of course had pushed him to be a criminal attorney (One guess on why a wanted criminal in several states and south of the border would want that.) But Dipper had settled for the simpler things instead.

Filing a divorce was often times a piece of cake compared to some of the mysteries he and Mabel had solved, even the ones that he had solved on his own were comparitavely easy. But there was the rare occasion where the words of his clients and the jobs he had to carry through told a different story. He could surmise what was going on between two people without even meeting them. This, he supposed, was what really kept him so interested in his job.

Sure he could write the contracts, read the wills, and verify the certificates, but that didn't mean his interest might trickle elsewhere. But after a few years of floating around, Dipper had decided that this was the job he was satisfied with. The man now sat in his own small office, which was in one of it's rare neat and tidy states.

Whenever he had a case to be working on papers were normally strewn out on his desk, and the bookshelf he had crammed with books on legal affairs and other laws pertaining to them were left open as he searched for the desired volumes. To keep his privacy, the man usually had the blinds on the window in his office drawn with the lamp in the corner and desk light switched on. It was his own little cave of work life. His boss didn't mind this at all, the elderly man understood what it was like to become totally absorbed in one's work, no matter how dry it may have seemed to others. Speaking of the devil, the silver-haired man knocked Dipper out of his distractions by tapping at the door.

"Come in!" He voiced.

The owner of the law firm admitted himself in to the room, and closed the door behind him. Dipper offered him a seat, but the elderly man politely declined, choosing to stand instead.

"Can I help you Mr. Yelnats?" Dipper curiously asked. He would never get used to he and his boss having such a fake-sounding last name.

"Your sister stopped in to see you, but I can't let her pig in to the building." He explained.

"Oh Mabel." The brown-haired man sighed, shaking his head in slight amusement.

"Were you expecting her?"

"Yes." He nodded, not elaborating on why.

Suddenly, Dipper realized something. How could he be so lacking in perception?!

_"Not surprising..." _The darker recesses of his mind replied.

The young man tried not to let the little stab of hurt he felt at this get to him. He had not talked to Pacifica since the luncheon at the Northwest's three days ago, but he had taken great care in "correcting" himself for any mistakes he made in this time. He absent-mindedly rubbed his side as the electrifying discovery came to him.

"You're the Northwest's butler!" He exclaimed before he could stop himself.

"Quite right." Stanley grinned, reverting back to his fake accent.

"But why do you worm for them?" He frowned. "They seem like a pain."

"That's a bit of a personal question don't you think?"

Blushing, he quickly apologized;

"Oh! Sorry!"

"Don't worry about it." The older man reassured. "I'm working for them because they would shut down my firm if I quit working for them."

Internally, Dipper could not help but flinch at the thought. It had seemed bad enough that he and Pacifica were being bent to the millionaire's will through threats, but there were others that had been forced under their thumb as well. How many people were truly helpless over the influence of the Northwest family?

"Isn't it difficult to work both jobs?"

"No. I'm not as young as I used to be, but I'm still active as ever in running this ol' place." Stanley said. "Even if I couldn't, I don't have the heart to shut it down, too many memories."

"Memories?"

"Yes..." He trailed, a far-off look consuming his cataract-clouded eyes. "My brother helped me start the place so I could bail him out of any crimes he committed."

Dipper could not help but snort at this.

"That's the exact same reason why my great-uncle wanted me to work as a criminal lawyer. Who knows? He could be your brother!"

Stanley snapped out of his reverie at this, a dark look shadowed his features before being masked.

"It's odd yes, but my brother is dead." He calmly said. _  
_

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's alright, he was a stubborn bull of a man while alive."

Dipper gave his employer another look of curiosity. Stanley looked nowhere like the amiable man he had been used to as he fixed his employee with an unidentifiable look.

"Gravity Falls and Levitation Rises are two very different towns." He slowly began, guessing what he was thinking. "But you'd be surprised how they parallel each other all the same."

"I always thought that this town was too normal..." Dipper mused.

"Anyone would think that after living in Gravity Falls. Now come, you're sister's waiting for you."

* * *

Dipper made his way out to the parking lot, where Mabel was standing beside her car. Waddles was on a tiny extendable leash, and had wandered over to a perfectly manicured island of grass where a impeccably round bush resided. The gardener who had sculpted it must have actually calculated the surface area of the bush it was so perfectly spherical. But Dipper brushed off the always flawless ways of Levitation Rises. After all, this was the town next to Gravity Falls, a little oddness was expected at times, even if the oddness was mainly caused by not being odd enough.

He gave his sister a tiny wave, which she returned with a full-on smile. He had called his sister earlier that day during his lunch break, asking her if she could stop by after he had finished work for the day. The brunette was glad to comply with his request, eager to check up on him. She did not have the chance to do so since the luncheon at Pacifica's.

The woman felt guilty for not trying to catch up with either Dipper or Pacifica, but the both of them had been carefully avoiding everyone for the past few days. But here was the perfect opportunity to do so. Dipper already seemed to be doing good considering that he had asked her to come. She did not have to force herself in to his presence and demand to know how he was handling everything. Her brother being able to open up to her once more was a very good sign, and she was glad that her other half was on his way to recovery.

"How was work? Full of paper stuff I couldn't possible understand?" She greeted.

"Just a case on this crazy family. One parent wants a divorce from the other, and their kid is trying to claim this big inheritance from a relative, while the one who doesn't want to be divorced wants to disown the kid."

The brunette shook her head at this.

"So sad that that could happen to a family..." She trailed. "But if you ask me, I think the parents want to take the money, and one wants a divorce so they can keep it for themselves."

"That's what I was thinking! But I can't just go and accuse them of that. I just need to do my job."

"Yeah, I guess so." She shrugged. "So what was it you wanted?"

"Just to talk." He admitted, feeling slightly sheepish saying it out loud.

"Sure thing bro-bro! Do you want to sit in the car? Waddles won't go anywhere if we do."

He nodded. Both twins did so, and were silent for a moment. Mabel waited for her brother to speak first, secretly promising to herself that she would do her best to be a good listener and would not brashly react to anything he said. No matter how hard it may be for her. Dipper was going through so much more than her.

Planning a fake wedding, and now an engagement party was nothing compared to being the one who actually had to go through with the fake wedding. Once the man had collected his thoughts enough and figured out what he wanted to say, he simply had to work up the nerve to speak.

"Mabel, I didn't tell you at all about how she broke up with me or the things she said. But one of the things she did tell me... She really mean what she said."

Right away Mabel prepared to leap in to action and recklessly start the car so she could drive to the Northwest Mansion and give that blonde a piece of her mind for hurting her brother, but she reminded herself that the was supposed to be attempting to remain calm, and not react too quickly.

"W-what was it?" She stuttered in an attempt to not raise her voice.

Dipper paused, giving a sigh. He stared out the car windshield, taking in the forest that bordered the perfect grass and parking lot of his work. The building where his work was happened to be in fairly good condition, nothing out of the of the ordinary. Part of the large sign that hung above had been torn off of the roof though, leaving behind a slight stain where the letters had once been.

_Blank Brothers _**Law Firm**

"She said that I wasn't over Wendy."

Mabel felt her heart freeze at this. In an attempt to put it delicately for him, she quietly agreed;

"Well, you might have reminisced about her more than the average person might have."

"You don't need to sugar-coat it Mabel. She was right. I just never realized how much I still missed her."

"Well she was a first crush Dipper, it was sort of expected after all we'd been through together in Gravity Falls."

"I know that." He said. "But I couldn't figure out why she'd always been haunting me."

"You did?" The brunette eagerly asked.

He nodded, painfully swallowing at the reason he had deduced.

"What is it?"

The man could not speak, and was blinking back tears at the thought.

"She reminded me of mom."

It took Mabel a second to fully register what he had said. Then it all came crashing back to her as the memories of discovering their parent's deaths that summer came back. Now she found herself tearing up too at the saddening reminder.

One day as she Dipper, Wendy, and Soos hung around outside, a car had showed up on the drive. Stan had accused the man in the car as being a tax collector out to get them, but he was not. The man was their parent's lawyer. He brought with him the series of unfortunate events that lead to their demise in a house fire. He dictated the will to the twins and Stan without so much as an apology for their loss and left.

That only made it all the more difficult to let the reality of things sink in. Their summers in Gravity Falls were not going to come to an end, ever. Mabel could barely remember the funeral through all of her tears. All she could recollect was both Stan and Dipper hugging her as they sat somewhere unfamiliar to her. Things came in bits and pieces after that. Salvaging their rooms for stuff that belonged to them and their parents, something, anything to keep as a reminder of them.

They had both adored their mother. That wasn't to say that their dad was unloved, he just didn't make that big on an impact on them. Not like their bright and cheerful mother. She shared her love of the arts with Mabel, insisted that staying with Stan would be a good idea. Not to mention all of the goofy rom-coms they had watched together, she played Date Boy Telephone Board Game with her whenever Dipper wouldn't. Dipper...

He had always been nervous and awkward, it wasn't simply a teenager thing. But their mom was always there to help him through it, make him more comfortable in his own skin. She would listen to all of his schemes with great interest, take him seriously even though no one else in their right mind would. And on more than one occasion she pressured him in to doing something he normally wouldn't have, make him forget his worries for a moment...

Then there was her red hair as well. There was a resemblance to Wendy both physically and mentally. And while that was a bit creepy, it at least made sense. Dipper was over Wendy, but he wasn't over the loss of his mother. And he had always assumed that it was Wendy he was missing.

"Do you think you'd feel better if we saw her and dad?"

"Y-yeah."

"We could leave right now, split the eight hours there and be on time to see the sunrise." She quickly suggested.

"You'd do that for me Mabel?"

The brunette gave him a light punch on the arm.

"Of course I would! You're my brother!"

Mabel got out of the car, and called Waddles back. The pig trotted back and pulled himself in to the back seat of the car, seeing as Dipper was already occupying the passenger seat. He pulled himself up on to the seat, and from there made himself comfortable for the ride back.

"We can just leave your car here overnight right?" Mabel asked, gesturing to her brother's car.

"I'm sure Mr. Pines will understand." He shrugged.

With that, she pulled out of the parking lot and quickly directed herself on the endless country highway, heading back south-east to their former home in Piedmont California.

* * *

Time seemed to pass quickly as they traveled along the roads. Passing the same forest scenery one might think otherwise, but it was much the contrary. The redwood forests of the west coast were a spectacular sight, as was all the nature that could easily be spotted through the tree. But everything was unique in it's own sense anyways.

Then sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, facing their backs as they drove farther east. It was best to travel along these type of roads before night fell. Not only was it more difficult to see with only the highbeams to guide one's self, it was when much more of the forest came to life.

Deer left their thickets just before dark, searching for food. It was also the hunting time for both wolves, mountain lions, and a few other vicious predators one would not want to be left alone with. It was just lucky that at this point in the year, bears were at their most passive state, no longer starving after the winter thaw, or jealously guarding their bear cubs from any possible predators.

Mabel tried to strike up a conversation with her brother a few times, but she was shot down at every single chance. Each time he did so, she felt her smiles and hopes grow smaller, and smaller, and smaller. She wanted her brother back! The same goofy guy who would make a joke that she couldn't understand or use vocabulary she had never encountered in her life!

_"And now, top ten hits from the year two-thousand and thirteen! **Disco Girl**, the hit song from the Icelandic pop sensation Baba! Which will be followed by the always sweet vocals of Several Timez, singing **Girl I need U in My Life! **I'm Ariel Hirsch, your favourite radio host, and this is six eighteen FM!"_

One of Dipper's favourite songs began to play, and he soon found himself hard-pressed not to sing along with the catchy lyrics. Mabel caught this out of the corner of her eyes, and she had to fight back a grin at this. Dipper could only resist until he hear the chorus of the song.

_"You can laugh, you can try, having the time of your eyes!"_

"Disco girl, coming through, that girl is you!" Dipper sang, trying not to blush at his terrible vocals.

Mabel giggled at this, and couldn't help but smile as her brother continued to sing. The song truly was his weakness, and she could never get him to sing otherwise. With the exception of the time when the zombies attacked the Mystery Shack. But that was something else all together.

Her brother was still there, no matter how tough the times he was going through happened to be at the moment. The song ended, and the perfect harmony of Mabel's all-time favourite band started to play. Now it was Dipper's turn to grin as Mabel fought to not sing along with their cloned perfection.

"WAAAAHOOO! Girl I need you! Otherwise my life will be blue!"

Sure the lyrics weren't the greatest, but this didn't stop her from trying to sing both the backup singers and Craggy C at the same time.

"You're the light of my life OOOOOOH! So please be my wife!"

"Ummm, Mabel-" Dipper tried to warn.

"YEEEEEAAH!"

"Mabel the cops are behind us!"

The brunette gave a careless look behind her and shrugged.

"So I'm speeding a little!" She waved off.

"A little?! You're going thirty-five over the speed limit!" The man fretted.

"We'll just lose them. It's just Blubs and Durland after all."

"No! Mabel-"

"Hold on Dipping-Sauce! I'm going to reenact a stunt I saw in this movie this one time!"

"Mabel n-"

The only thing Dipper could do was hold on as his sister floored it and risked flooding the engine. He had to cover his eyes, unable to stomach seeing how fast they were going. The sirens did not fade behind them, and they could not continue to travel at this speed for much longer. Even as Mabel took a dramatic turn, resulting in the car fish-tailing, she knew that there was no hope.

Since when did Blubs and Durland know offensive driving? That was when it hit her. They weren't in Gravity Falls. They were somewhere with normal police officers that were trained and knew how to do their job. Blubs in Durland were something they had always taken for granted! If they got caught they would be in major trouble!

"Dipper! What would Stan do?!" Mabel frantically asked.

Peeking from behind his hands, the man replied just as hysterically;

"I don't know! Fake a medical condition?!"

Right away, Mabel knew what to do.

"Dipper! Uncover your eyes and open the glove compartment!"

"What? Why?!"

"Just do it!"

Her twin opened the glove compartment, and found two things. One very oversized sweater, and-

"Why do you have a watermelon in the glove compartment?"

"Don't ask! Just put on the sweater and then stuff the watermelon under it!"

"They won't buy that I'm pregnant!"

"Yes they will! You have beautiful eyelashes and fabulous hair! And they won't be able to tell otherwise with the sweater!"

With no other options left, the brown-haired man did so. Then ruffling his hair and holding his breath so his face would turn red, he prepared for another great escapade from the Mystery Twins. His sister finally slowed down and pulled over. A red-faced police officer strode over to the car. Mabel hesitantly rolled down the window. Show time.

Giving a pained gasp and starting to hyperventilate, he did his best to make it look like he was in a great deal of pain. Through this Dipper was only able to hear bits and pieces of the conversation at hand.

"-How far in is she-"

"-A month early officer!"

"-And why do you have a pig in the car?"

"He's here for moral support!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure your sister will be fine."

Soon enough, Dipper found that they were driving once more, officer that had been tailing them gone. Dipper removed the watermelon and put it back in to the glove box, and did the same with Mabel's sweater. He gave a sigh of relief and slid back in his seat slightly.

"I knew that watermelon would come in handy!" Mabel grinned.

"Yeah, it actually worked." He panted, still short on breath after faking his labour.

The twins were silent for a moment, smiling at their victory. Stan would be proud!

"Mabel... Do I actually look like a girl when wearing your sweaters?"

"You're a very handsome woman Dipper." Mabel reassured. "Like Grenda."

The twin snorted at this. As far as things went, that was really a complement. Keeping her eyes on the road, the brunette punched her brother lightly in the shoulder.

"Mystery Twins?"

He smiled fondly at the memory of their childhood nickname the people of Gravity Falls had bestowed on them. Through the thick and the thin, they had always stuck together. Mabel was there for him even now, and he would always be there for his sister.

"Mystery Twins."

* * *

"Can I getcha' anything dearie?"

"No, no. I'm fine thank you."

"Just tell me if you need _anything _and I'll be happy to give it to you! Wink!"

Alex shuddered at Lazy Susan's blatant attempts at flirting with him. He watched as the elderly woman returned to the kitchen once more. She was only pretending to work, and the man knew that when he turned to stare out the window that she would be staring at him.

She was just running late. Wasn't she? Three days ago his immature outburst landed him a date, but she hadn't shown. Mabel insisted that she was being serious when she said that she wanted to go out on a date with him. Of course he had apologized multiple times and tried to make a point of stating that he wasn't thinking about her in that way at all. She had given him her genuine phone number, as well as the one for her current residence at the Mystery Shack.

Mabel seemed like a nice person, no, he knew that she was nice. And it didn't seem like she was the type to ditch on a date out of spite. He had been nervous about going out at first, and now he was too worried to call and ask where she was or if she was coming.

Alex's experiences with the opposite gender were not usually pleasant. As far as he was concerned, females were a dangerous and unpredictable species who wanted nothing to do with him. Mabel seemed like the queen of dangerous and unpredictable!

But after his employer had slapped some sense in to him (Literally.) he realized that he could do this, he could avoid all of the awkwardness if he was confident and proved that there was more to him than what his first impressions seemed to give.

But in the end, it was wasted. Because Mabel didn't show. The late afternoon morphed in to the evening, then the sun began to set just past the mountains. It soon became dark. There was a large crowd of the usuals who milled about, but no Mabel. Even they; The citizens, the tourists, the raccoons, filed out in the end. The smells of food cooking subsided, being replaced with the sharper scents of soap.

Some of the lights were turned off, dimming the once bright room. The cheerful buzz of people gave away to the dismal hum of the neon signs hung on the windows. The sickly pink, orange, and blue lights attracted moths. The insects tried to reach them through the dirt-speckled windows, thinking that they were the moon.. Lazy Susan could be heard occasionally, humming a tune or bustling around in the kitchen. He was glad she had finally given up on trying to flirt with him.

The night grew no younger as he waited there. The man tried to occupy his thoughts. Doodling little gnomes and eyeballs on a napkin with a red ballpoint pen, colouring in the children's activity section on the menu, playing one-sided tic-tac-toe that always resulted in a cat's game all wore out quickly. He began to fret once more, and knew that he really should just give up.

Fate seemed to agree with him, as Lazy Susan exited the kitchen and turned off the lights behind her.

"Sorry dearie, but it's closing time." The elderly woman said.

"Alright." Alex sighed, getting up and straightening his flannel shirt.

He followed Lazy Susan out side of the diner, and stood under a street light. He watched as she locked up and gave her goodnights to him and the diner. The man winced as his stomach decided to remind him of something he would much rather ignore for the time being.

He hadn't ordered any food because he wasn't sure when Mabel was going to show. So much for getting dinner. He didn't go grocery shopping at all because he had been too busy the past days worrying. The Northwest's chauffeur was pretty sure that the only twenty-four hour convenience store in town was haunted. He would have to wait until tomorrow to get something to eat.

_"I guess this is what I get for saying something like that to her." _He reflected as his stomach gave another hungry growl.

The waitress, now finished with her goodbyes and locking up of the greasy restaurant turned to Alex and gave her farewells.

"Later handsome! Wink!"

The man did not even bother to flinch as a woman three times his age hit on him for what was going on the eleventh time.

"Have a good evening." He sighed in reply. _"Because I sure as hell won't."_

She smiled and then left. Leaving Alex standing alone out side of the diner. Confused, starving, and waiting for a date that would never show.


	8. Confusion On Both Fronts

**Wow, thanks for all the reviews you guys! **

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**Sarcasm. That was sarcasm. And while I normally like to live up to the "nice Canadian" stereotype, please listen to my virtual sarcastic applause at this. Same amount of views per chapter, if not higher than the median, yet this... I don't write any of my stories to get attention and reviews you guys, I write because I love writing. I would continue to post chapters even if absolutely no one read my stories. The cold shoulder was just a little surprising.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

The sun rose slowly, and the fog hovering over the graveyard did as well. It was only a thin layer of mist, and did not do much to obscure one's vision. But there was no breeze to push away the clouds, so they remained. The grass was green, and was starting to grow a little wild. It was coated in dew drops, which were sparkling in the silvery light that penetrated the mist.

From this fog emerged two figures. One male, one female. Both clearly siblings from the way they looked. Same curly, brown hair, same rounded nose, and same coloured eyes. They remained silent as they trekked through the graveyard, looking nowhere but straight ahead of them. The woman held two matching bouquets of flowers, while the man held small tea candles and a box of matches. They passed countless headstones and markers. Nearly all held some sort of had some sort of memorial or tribute from family members and friends, resting there politely as they waited for time to snuff them out as well.

Finally, the couple reached the stones that they were looking for. Both made of polished granite, both with their parent's names, life span, and a small quote inscribed in them. The woman laid down one bunch of flowers on both memorials, the man spread out the candles between the two. He made a move to light them, but it felt wrong. Lighting candles when fire was the cause of their death would make it more of a mockery than anything. So he left the candles there, but pocketed the box of matches.

Brother and sister stood there quietly for several minutes, staring at the stones, and listening to the suffocating silence of the graveyard that seemed to press down on them like the fog. Finally, the man opened his mouth of speak, but he could not form the words that he wanted to say. His sister gave him a reassuring nudge, telling him to go ahead, that it was ok.

"I miss you guys, the both of you." He managed to choke. "Mom, I spent all of these years like an idiot, not even realizing that I missed you so much. I had always thought that it was Wendy, she's a lot like you. But I know now, and I miss you still..."

He had to stop there, and took in a deep breath to prevent himself from crying. If he expected to feel some otherworldly form of comfort come to him, it did not. The only comfort he received came from his sister, who tugged his hand slightly. He nodded, and they turned to leave. But as they did, he froze.

He spotted the markers, the reserved plots in the cemetery that lay next to the ones of their parents' graves. His sister's, and his own. They would be buried here, laid to rest next to their parents once they passed on. For a brief moment, something about this frightened him. He didn't know why, it just was. The sudden visualization of his sister crying over him flashed before his eyes. Being buried, left alone there as one by one his family and friends joined him.

"Dip?" The brunette quietly asked.

"I'm fine." He brushed off, shaking his head.

A small gale began, lifting the fog and letting the first rays of the morning sun in. He gave his sister a weak smile, and she gave one in return. The twins silently walked back to the car, the rising sun lighting the way.

* * *

Pacifica groaned and buried her head under a pillow as she heard her mother's strident voice in the hall. They were supposed to be going shopping today, and she had not even gotten out of bed yet. The blonde was not an early riser, but whenever shopping was involved, she was expected to be up at the crack of dawn. As it just so happened to be, it was the crack of dawn.

"Pacifica! You better be up and ready young woman!"

The Northwest Heiress winced, and called to her mother;

""I'm almost ready! Just give me five minutes!"

"You have three! Now hurry! You're keeping the driver waiting!"

Muttering under her breath, she got out of bed and put on the outfit she had laid out the night before for this exact reason. She fiercely tore a hairbrush and comb through her hair, subduing any flyaways. Knowing that her mother expected her to be fully made up, hot wearing makeup was out of the question. Eyeliner, foundation, blush, all the disgusting lot of it was hastily plastered on.

Then, she emerged from her room. Her mother gave an approving nod, and without a word strode downstairs to where the driver was waiting for them. Breakfast was not even in the question for her, apparently an empty stomach was nothing to dwell on when she could be out buying all of her clothing.

Once they were in the car, she tore open another pack of cinnamon mints, which would hopefully tide her over for then. Her mother gave a disapproving glance at this, sugar rotted the teeth after all, but the blonde did not really care. She could not rid herself of the disgusting taste that seemed to coat her mouth, nor could any amount of showers get rid of that uncomfortable greasy sensation. Was it really Robbie who had caused this? Or was it something else?

When she looked in the mirror, she seemed fine. But Pacifica knew better than that. Underneath all of her makeup and blonde hair she was a monster. She almost blindly followed the rules and manipulations if her parents at the time. She was too spineless to fight them back, even if the hopes were pathetic at best. _Dipper _would have fought anyways, if she hadn't broken him before. Mabel would have as well. The lively brunette was impossible to subdue.

She on the other hand... There wasn't a day she went by without losing to her parents once again. And because of that, she had taken it out on the only man who really cared. What sort of person did that? No person did that, only a monster would be so cruel and merciless! She really and truly was horrible...

"You're frowning Pacifica, that causes wrinkles." Patricia chastised.

As if she didn't know that. Her mother had gotten so much surgery over the years to look young that she could barely emote anymore. Her face was like some sort of horrific ventriloquist dummy. No maternal warmth had ever radiated from her expressions, and she doubted that her mother would show such an expression if it was possible. Pacifica stopped frowning, knowing there was no use fighting it, that there was never any use fighting it anyways. Instead, she inwardly huffed and stared out of the car window.

What felt like forever passed as they drove north to Seattle. But they finally arrived. There, Patricia began to instruct the chauffeur on the route they would be taking through the large city, even though Alex knew where they were going and had traced it out on the map. Of course one simply didn't point that out to their boss, so he ended up nodding and tiredly agreeing with everything the strident woman said.

Their first stop was at the catering company her mother prefered to use for any large events the kitchen staff could not handle. Pacifica was not needed for this short job, but she still had to be dragged in to the spick and span, no-nonsense building. She silently held herself there with dignity as her mother made all of the necessary arrangements at the front desk.

"Now how many people would you be feeding for the engagement party and wedding?" The man at the desk asked. "One hundred? Two fifty? Three?"

Patricia winced at the thought of spending all that money on so many people. They were on a very specific budget here!

"I was thinking of something more along the lines of fifty."

"Are you certain?" The man at the desk asked, peering at her over his glasses.

"Yes." The matriarch nodded. "We want to keep things close, just the family and close business associates. Not all sort of riff-raff. Isn't that right Pacifica?"

"Certainly." The blonde pretended to agree, tossing her hair.

Catering now organized, the continued to several different party planner that had been recommended to them. They eventually settled for one with better rates, and would be willing to throw the party in one of the ball rooms that the mansion instead of renting a hall.

The Northwest Heiress started to feel sick to her stomach as she listening to her mother go over the plans for decorating that she and Mabel had made. Judging from the lack of glitter-covered streamers and confetti that would be involved, it seemed like the conversation her mother and Mabel had was rather one-sided, not that this was much of a surprise either.

Then came the worst part. Shopping for the dress she would have to wear for her engagement party. Pacifica liked shopping, she supposed that it was not all that bad. But it was preferable when she could go and buy her own clothing, not be forced in to so many outfits. Not be judged so harshly on every article od clothing that came withing a five foot radius of her.

_"Dipper was right." _She reflected as she slipped in to another dress._"You are just a sick, twisted doll. A monster. You're disgusting."_

Staring at her reflection in the dressing room, the blonde knew that there was no way she would be allowed to wear this dress. The colour was nice, a seafoam green, but it was too tight and on the shorter side. Even she had to agree that it was a little informal. But when she voiced this, she was told to show it anyways. Needless to say, her mother's reaction was to be expected.

"That dress makes you look like a harlot!" She shrilly whispered, eyes growing wide. "Try on this!"

Pacifica found herself being unceremoniously showed back in to the small dressing room with a new dress. One look at this one, and she knew that it it fit, she would be wearing it. And not by choice. That was, unless they were throwing a costume party and she was going as her great-great grandmother.

The plum-coloured material seemed to be heavy, like corduroy. Long sleeves, covered everything, and lace clawing at her neck. It was also very warm, and she could not do the buttons in the back without help. Who in their right mind would design this for reasons other than props in a movie?!

"Pacifica dear, let me see the dress." Patricia insisted.

Hesitantly, the blonde stepped out of the cubicle. Her mother's eyes lit up in delight as soon as she saw it.

"Perfect!" She squealed, clapping her hands.

"But mom-" Pacifica weakly protested.

"No buts! Your fashion choices have been questionable lately! I'm starting to wonder if you've forgotten _everything _we've taught you over the years."

Pacifica wilted slightly at this. She had always done her best to try and uphold their standards, yet in never seemed to hold for very long. She could when she was younger, but not once she grew older. Now it was just impossible, there was never any hope of winning...

"Now we just need the right handbag to go with it! Proper shoes as well..."

* * *

Was eight and a half really an ungainly shoe-size to have? Staring down at her own heels as she dutifully followed her mother to the car, it was impossible to tell. Apparently she had gone up a size, even though she should have been done growing. Were her feet too big? Did they make her look like too much of a klutz? Her feet weren't really that bad. Right?

Pacifica was snapped out her reverie by one of the few things that always captured her attention; The stringy, nasally tone her mother took on as she yelled. The sound could being traffic to a halt and injure the ears of the deaf it was so horribly grating. Luckily for her, she was not the current target of her standards.

"Andoire! Andoire, wake up you lazy lump! Carry all of our shopping bags!"

The chauffeur was resting with his arms curled around the steering wheel of the car, head tucked in his arms. His face was squished in a rather ungainly fashion against the car horn. Like all the staff of the Northwest Household, he was familiar with this voice and jumped awake.

He got to his feet haggard and lugged all of the bags and boxes to the trunk. Then he began to puzzle everything in to the place, making sure that more bags could be accommodated if need be. Normally, this was something the man was very skilled at, but the impatient tapping of his boss' high heels and lack of sleep made this more difficult. But the brown-haired man eventually managed.

Then, he resumed his spot as driver and continued along their route, coming to their second last stop. This so happened to be the bank. For whatever reason, it was deemed that Pacifica was not needed for this, so she sat with the driver in the car. The blonde relived a sigh of relief now that the pressing force was gone. She tapped on the window that separated the driver from the passengers in the back. The normally energetic man lowered it, and tiredly asked;

"Yes?"

"You look like you got hit by a bus." Pacifica said, eyeing his dark circles.

"No. At least I would have died if I was hit by a bus." He muttered.

"Are you wearing Zuzu Clementine track pants as well? Aren't those only made for girls?"

Alex tiredly stared down at his pants. He had a bit of trouble getting dressed that morning it seemed. Even his flannel shirt from the night before was badly hidden underneath his blazer instead of the standard white shirt. He skipped the formal pants all together as well. At least his hair was untamable as ever and hidden under his driver's hat, so no one could complain about that.

"I have never cared so little about your opinion more so than now." The driver said, hoping that getting fired would at least give him more time to sleep.

Unfazed by the blunt statement, Pacifica replied;

"Your date with Mabel didn't go well I take it? Not that a date with her could _ever _possibly go well."

"I wouldn't be able to tell you how our date went because Mabel never showed."

_"Yikes."_

"Just be glad that you escaped before she made you a custom sweater." Pacifica replied.

"But I wanted to talk to her! She seemed really nice and energetic!"

"Adrian-"

"It's Alex."

"-I'm not sure if you ever noticed, but you are anything but energetic right now."

He gave the blonde a tired glare, and was about to say something back when Pacifica's mother returned from the bank.

'YES! This is our last stop on the route coming up Miss Northwest!" He loudly finished, not wanting to get in trouble for talking to Pacifica like a normal person.

"Good." She stiffly nodded, knowing the procedure as well.

The permanent smile on the Northwest Matriarch's face looked more forced than it usually was as she strode up to them.

"Amsterdam-"

"That's not even a real name."

"-I'm going to take longer than expected at the bank. My husband already knows and is driving up here as we speak. You take Pacifica back to the mansion, we'll be back tomorrow."

With that command, she turned and quickly left, striding back in to the bank. Alex gave a sigh of thanks, slouching back in to his seat, but Pacifica felt nowhere near as relieved. What was going on with the bank?

For a fleeting moment, she wondered if they had somehow found a way to access her own private bank account and discovered how much money she had been saving and regularly depositing. The blonde shook that worry off. She had been assured that it was not tied to her family's money in any way, and she was the only one who could control it.

But he father was actually driving himself here instead of waiting for the chauffeur to come get him. He never drove himself! She debated what could possibly be going on all the drive back to Gravity Falls. She didn't even realize how time had been whittled away by her worries until her stomach decided to give a rather obnoxious growl. She had not eaten all day, and it was just barely three.

"We're stopping for lunch." The Northwest Heiress proclaimed.

"We?" The driver wondered.

"Yes Alen, _we. _" She growled. "Now stop already! I'm starving!"

The driver pulled over to a parking spot at the side of the road, and put the appropriate amount of money in the parking meter. He pulled off his formal jacket, which he had slipped over yet another jacket. This one being red-patterned flannel. If not for the brown hair, he could have been the missing link between the Corduroy family and the rest of civilized human beings.

Pacifica dragged him along to the dinner. As soon as they stood outside of it, he hesitated going back in. He had just waited five hours yesterday hoping that Mabel would show up for their date. He didn't exactly feel like returning there! The blonde could care less about this and scoffed;

"Gravity Falls only has three restaurants, two of which you can't afford. Do you plan on leaving out this one because you had a date go wrong in the last one?"

"Yes." Alex nodded.

"Unless you want a demotion, the answer to that question is no." She threatened. "My parents aren't home, and I'm going to eat whatever I want and not care about my appearance until then."

Sure enough, Alex found himself sitting in a booth across from Pacifica as she actually ate food fit for human consumption, and with disregard for several overly stuffy table rules. She would reach for the darn salt instead of asking if she wanted to! It was a bit awkward to eat with one's sort of boss, and neither one of them did much talking.

Really, neither of them had any idea of what to say. Pacifica had barely even acknowledged his existence until he started showing interest in Mabel a few days ago! She was still very bossy and always got his name wrong, but she was nowhere near as bad as her parents at least. So everything remained relatively silent, until Alex looked out one of the diner windows.

Mabel was there, standing on the other side of the street, looking at right at him and Pacifica. Shock, hurt, and realization crossed her face. She had completely forgotten about her date with Alex last night, as she ran off to help Dipper. The brunette stood there staring, finding herself unable to do anything else. The Northwest Heiress turned to look out the window as well, and rolled her eyes once again.

Kicking the man under the table lightly, the blonde insisted;

"Go talk to her."

Eyes wide, the brown-haired man shook his head.

Somehow, the driver knew that he was tied in to all of the drama going on between the blonde and Mabel's brother, but he was still in the dark for the most part on what was going on. All of this seemed like a bad episode of _The Duchess Aproves _to him! Not that there were any actual good episodes of it, but the argument still stood firm.

Giving the man another shove, Pacifica instructed;

"Go talk to her."

"I think I'll just hide under the table thank-you!" The man declared, sliding off of his seat and under the table.

Pacifica turned back to the window, planning on telling Mabel to come so she and Alex could talk things out, but the brunette was already gone.

"Great, just what everyone needs." She huffed. "More drama."


	9. Seven Minutes in Heavan (Kind of)

**I'm sorry for the later update. I've got a bunch on my plate and this was on the back-burner for the moment. Next comes Eternity which must be updated tomorrow at the latest as well.**

**I wrote this chapter, decided that I hated it, and then realized that I actually liked it somewhat and so I ended up rewriting the entire chapter from memory. Painful to say the least. But I at least managed to scrap the part where Bill wrote himself in to the story. Again. Just because people are having problems, you can't just expect people to make a deal with you and move on Bill! Irritating irregular figure!**

**Triangle-shaped dilemmas out of the way, there is a bunch of controversy at the end of this chapter. Go on freak out if you must, but know that I change my pairings and plot for no one. No argument can persuade me and such. Just wait and watch for things to unfold before you freak out on me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

Pacifica was absent-mindedly staring out of her bedroom window, not paying attention to her surroundings as her thoughts and emotions wildly raged within. What was wrong with her? Was she some sort of defective human? Was she made without the parts that proper human beings came with?

She always felt so emotionless and cold. She rarely had any moments that were either high low, with the obvious exceptions to the rule. Why was it that she was so icy, more of a monster than human? How was it that she felt it was right to destroy other people's lives like this, to cause such pain? The expression on Dipper's face as she destroyed him was heart-breaking.

But she stood there. She stood there and laughed at his predicament! She had felt good, triumphant about it! She liked causing the man she thought she loved such agony!

She did love Dipper, right?

How would she know if she loved the man, if her parents clearly did not?

Pacifica's thoughts were interrupter when the phone resting on her nightstand suddenly started to ring. This washer personal phone, and not attached to the land-line that the servants used in any way. These days the only persons who knew this number were friends of her parents, and her mother.

She didn't have any "friends" left to call or have call her, not after she was no longer allowed to flaunt her wealth and social status. Grades came first, money came next. Which seemed completely ludicrous seeing as her parents wanted her to sit back and be nothing more than eye candy and the perfect wife for her husband. Blowing out an irritated breath, she picked up the receiver.

_"Oh Pacifica! There you are! It looks like we will be spending another night her, so I arranged for that nice wedding planner, Maple I think her name was, to come talk over the wedding plans with you!"_

"What?!" She asked in surprise. "Why?"

_"Because I don't want you all alone in that big house on your own! She should be here in a minute or so! Ciao!"_

With a small click, her mother had already hung up the phone on her. Pacifica gave a groan. She didn't want to have to entertain Mabel! The air head was already careful and loudly rambunctious as it was. She just wanted to recover from her early morning shopping trip from yesterday! Mabel did not seem like the easiest way to relax for a little bit.

Especially if it involved supposedly talking over the plans for something that she would much rather avoid. The woman tried to deny that any of this was really happening, but as every day passed, the fate for her engagement party grew closer. She and Dipper would have to continue the act, and things were truly starting to slip out of her control.

Still, Pacifica got off of her bed and took the long way to the ground floor. Mabel was already standing in the entrance hall, happily chattering with Stanley. Alex was pointedly ignoring the two of them, pretending to be tying his shoe lace. Even though he was wearing dress shoes. The brunette's eyes lit up as soon as she spotted the other woman.

"Hey Pacifica! Your mom invited me over to help with the wedding, but I thought that we could have a super fun sleep over instead!"

Pacifica felt het eye twitch at the idea, but calmly replied;

"Sure... Thing... Mabel..."

Her words came out a little more forced than expected, but the other woman did not really care. She had not had a super fun sleep over with a friend in forever! It had been so long since she had last talked with Candy and Grenda face-to-face as well!

They could do make overs, watch silly romantic movies, read age (Well, they were appropriate now.) romantic novels, and stay up super late. Mabel beamed at the very thoughts. Pacifica on the other hand, gave a wince, having a fair idea of what Mabel's thoughts on having a fun sleep over were.

"This is going to be _so _fun!" The brunette squealed.

"Like a mime in the opera." Pacifica muttered. "Painful for everyone involved."

Mabel lightly punched the other woman in the arm.

"Cheer up! You were like, a total party-queen when we were twelve! Don't tell me you've forgotten those mad partying skillz!"

"Mad partying _what_?"

"Skills!" She explained as if it were obvious. "You know, awesomeness, talent? You probably would have beaten me without bribing people if I didn't ignore my body's aching cramps, begging for me to stop!"

The Northwest Heiress was surprised at Mabel's simple admission to nearly being defeated. A proper Northwest never showed weakness to the competition in any form.

"Y-you really think so?" She asked in surprise.

"Totally! I couldn't walk for like, a week after that crazy partying!"

"That's... Nice..."

Mabel went on to elaborate on all of the awesome parties she had been to over the years in Gravity Falls, all the parties that she should have been attending instead of her. She was the one with the best fashion sense! She was the one who had the powerful and influential patents!

She was the one who reminded everyone that they were nothing more than dirt beneath her perfectly polished brown leather boots! And yet somehow over the years, it was Mabel and friends who climbed the latter of popularity while she was left down at the bottom. Leaving her there like the ugly, emotionless, monster she really was.

She was deserted by the people she had considered her friends. Those who always backed her up no matter the situation. And where did they go? Chasing after Mabel and licking the scum off of her shoes as they tried to win the former outcast's favour.

Little did they know, Mabel had no idea that she was popular, and if she did, she had no idea what she would do with that power over everyone else. Pacifica had to sit back and watch in disgust as the brunette went about life as usual with her tight-knit friends like nothing was wrong.

Listening to the other woman go on and on was starting to give the blonde a headache. She paused their trip up to the guest rooms suddenly, as an idea struck the blonde on how to pacify her temporarily. Giving her most innocent smile possible, Pacifica said;

"Hey, do you know what we should do first?"

"What?" She asked, glad that her enthusiasm was catching on.

"We'll play seven minutes in hell."

"Ummm, do you mean seven minutes in heaven?" The brunette inquired.

"Oh no, I meant hell." Pacifica reassured, shoving Mabel in to the nearest closet and locking the door.

"Pacifica, I don't think that you're playing this right."

The Northwest Heiress ignored this, and instead called through the mansion;

"AAAAARCHIIIEEE!"

"It's Alex." The worker muttered, arriving to do whatever it was she wanted.

"There's a mouse in this closet." Pacifica informed him, pointing to the closet where Mabel was locked in to. "And I need you to kill it."

Alex did his best not to glare at the blonde.

"Miss Northwest, with all due respect, your parents hired me as the family chauffeur. _Not _a terminator."

"Yes, but my parents are also the ones who give you your pay check." She reminded. "So I suggest that unless you'd like to go without one you go in to that closet and get rid of that filthy mongrel."

Hesitantly opening the door, the brown-haired man stepped in to the narrow closet. But as soon as he was fully in the room, the door swung shut behind him. There was a sudden ominous click as Pacifica locked the door on him.

"Enjoy your time with Mabel!" The blonde said in farewell. "I'm off to the kitchens! Tata!"

Time? With Mabel? What was she talking about?

"Do you mind?" The brunette uncomfortably asked. "You're pressing me against the wall."

Alex felt the colour drain from his face. So that was what she meant. He tried to pull himself away from Mabel, but the walls of the closet were too narrow for him to do too much moving. But, to his surprise, there was a lot more room going length ways. In fact it seemed to continue on much longer than the dusty width of the closet.

"Well, we're trapped in a closet together." Mabel awkwardly said.

"Trapped together..." Alex echoed.

"Yup..."

"Yeah.."

"Mhm."

Mabel went back to being silent, nervous about being in the same tight, closed in space as for all purposes a man who was pretty much a stranger. Mabel knew nothing about him beyond his name really, and what he did for a living! Mabel had felt incredibly and terribly guilty after she had completely forgotten about her date with him in order to help her brother.

She was just so caught up in the spur of the moment, there was no way she could deny helping her brother in some minute way for a date with some guy! But Alex was not just some guy! He was someone that she genuinely wanted to get to know. There was some sort of factor that pulled her in closer to the man, she was interested in him for certain.

But then she had gone and ruined her chances by never even showing up! He had not even bothered to try and contact her at all as well! He was just going to be yet another one of her failed romances, who's feelings she had disregarded for those of her brother's. Dipper would always come first in her life, but the idea that she had been so terrible to the other man hung heavy in her heart.

It had taken fifteen minutes of persuasion to prove that she was not joking when she asked to go ona date with him! But that was probably what the other man saw it all as, one big, huge joke! And she definitely didn't want to talk to him now! Not after what she had just done!

"You know, the length in this closet goes on for a while..." Alex mused. "Almost like a hallway."

Curious now, the driver pushed his way past Mabel slightly. He began to blindly feel his way down the hall, shuddering as his hands came in to contact with the occasional cobweb. He just hoped that they were uninhabited webs. Having been pulled out of her thoughts by the man, Mabel followed him down the length of what truly did seem to be an abandoned hallway, taking care to not trip on anything as they farther explored the mansion.

Suddenly, they came to a dead end. Mabel gave a groan at his, knowing they would have to turn around and go the way that they had come. Alex on the other hand, curiously looked around. He noticed that the ceiling was especially low here, he could easily push both hands against it. Additionally, there was something different about this part, almost like it was not ceiling at all.

Curious now, the man pushed at the ceiling with all his strength. He felt something move slightly, but it was very difficult to push, eventually, with a painfully loud squeak, it fully moved out of the way. The it in question being a trap door.

Light streamed down in to the tunnel, and they both looked at it incredulously. The closet wasn't a closet, ut was a secret passage way. The driver carefully boosted Mabel out of the hall, and winced as she used his shoulder to push her way out. Alex followed soon after, and he gave a gasp of surprise at what he found.

"No. Way."

"A secret room!" Mabel said in awe.

"No, not a secret room! This is Mr. Northwest's private office!"

"So?" The brunette wondered.

"Even the servants aren't allowed in here!" The man exclaimed, staring around the plush room in awe.

"Really?!" She eagerly asked. "Let's go through his stuff!"

The brunette ran over to his desk, but Alex pulled her back by the sweater.

"Are you crazy?! He'd find out!"

With that, the man nervously turned back to where the trap door lay open. There was a carpet over top og it, which was why there was so much trouble opening it. But the man was sure that he could fix it back into place. He sternly indicated for Mabel to go back in to the secret passage, and the man followed behind her. From there, he grabbed the carpet and positioned it so that it would slide over the trap door when he closed it.

Once that was done, he let out a sigh of relief. He was not risking his job just so he could go through some boring random papers! Turning to Mabel in the musty darkness, he whispered to Mabel;

"There is no way we can tell this to anyone. Got it?"

Mabel did not reply right away, she was curious to see what Pacifica's father could possibly keep in the room. But considering that she was going to be trapped in the hall with the man until Pacifica let them out of the faux closet, she decided that it was safest to just nod.

The couple returned to the entrance of the hall, and patiently waited there in silence. As it turned out, they would not have to wait very long. Stanley opened the closet, with the intent of retrieving a broom. What he found was not what he was expecting. Completely scandalized, he pulled the couple out of the closet.

"So you thought that you could get away with assaulting the young miss Pines?!" The man inquired, whacking Alex on the head with a broom.

"No! I just-"

"You ought to be ashamed if yourself! When Mr. Northwest hears of this-"

"No! Stanley we just-"

"Ashamed of yourself I say!"

Mabel, who had been standing there awkwardly up until this point now spoke;

"He didn't do anything to me."

"Ah! But he would have!" The grey-haired man said, whacking Alex with the broom again.

"No, Pacifica locked us in the closet together!"

The head butler abruptly stopped his scolding at this, realizing that he had hurt the innocent man, who was now cowering on the floor as he tried to hide from the broom. A blush creeped across his face at the revelation.

"My bad." He apologized, helping Alex to his feet. "Won't happen again Alfie!"

Alex groaned and collapsed on the floor yet again. Why was it always him?!

* * *

After dealing with Mabel, Pacifica returned to her room and threw herself on to the bed. She tried to scold herself for locking Mabel in the closet with a man who she was currently having romantic issues with, but she could not bring herself to feel overly remorseful for doing so. But this just brought up her question of before. What was wrong with her? Why was she so horrible to other people without a care in the world?

It was natural for people to like other people. Yet she was always so fed up with everyone, never wanting to give them the time of day. But was that the superiority act she always kept on for her parents. Everyone liked Mabel, how come she found the girl so irritating and repulsive?!

Dipper, Dipper oh gods as much as she did not want to think about Dipper right now, there was a lot to consider with him as well. Dipper was the person who she perceived to be closest to her. But how close was close? They talked and grew yes, but their conversations were always the same. A joke or two, something school or work-centric.

They had barely even talked when they were both in post-secondary! How did they even remain together when they did not even maintain a relationship?! Dipper knew nothing about her, not her parents, her home life, how each and every day spent for her felt so tiring...

That was definitely not right.

Both the former statement, and the latter. Human beings were social, they were supposed to enjoy each other's company. It felt like there was a gap inside of her that needed to be filled with _something_ of that sorts, and Pacifica knew that she wanted it to be fixed. But at the same time, the very idea repulsed her.

The blonde did not want to be tied down with emotional connections to others, especially in an intimate sort of way. There was a greater instinct that overid her desire to want people close to her, one that wanted her to snap at others, push away from any kind of relationship based on these sorts of emotions.

That was wrong though, she should have wanted to be close to someone. Dipper in particular, she should have been attracted to him as people said. But the more she thought about it, the more Pacifica realized how not attracted she felt to Dipper. She had been something with him, they had done all of that couple-y stuff, hugging, holding, hands, kissing.

But the more she dwelled on that, the more she realized how unaffected she felt by what might have been milestones in any other relationship. There was still that tiny part of her who wanted to do so, but at the same time there was something that felt wrong about it.

Was she lesbian? Could that explain it? Or what if she was bisexual, with a preference for female? That would make sense wouldn't it? As she tried to think of any time when she had ever been attracted to another female in the slightest, she found nothing. The thought almost made her feel as disgusted as being attracted to a guy!

The blonde froze at this. Just a guy? Or Dipper? Well it had to be one or the other. Although it would not be all that suprising if it was none of the above either. She was a defective monster. Not even feeling remorse for her actions, unable to grow close to anyone...

And the one person who she had become "close" with had been driven off. Could she even keep anyone in her company for long without having them run off on her? Why did she even want their company to begin with? Just the very thought seemed impossible, inconceivable.

Pacifica felt disgusted. With the idea of wanting to be with someone romantically, and yet not wanting to be at the same time. What was the matter with her? But mostly she felt disgust at herself. Self-loathing. Hatred for all of these stupid conflicting emotions, for being such an inhuman defect that wasn't made right. It was that same bitter taste that she could never get out of her mouth.

She was so freakish and wrong, she deserved something. She deserved to feel something other than this stupid conflicting emotional mess. She wanted to at least feel some sort of emotion. A sensation that was greater than all the pain she had caused by her, just some sort of proof that she was more than just the twisted product of her parents. And at this rate, any cure would be welcomed with open arms.


End file.
